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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL 

LOa  ahGEU&>,  CALIFORNIA 


\ki 


JANS 


Fig.   i. — North  America. 

From  a  photograph  of  a  relief  map  by  Victor  and  Cosmos  Mindeleff. 
Scales  of  original  :  Horizontal,  120  miles  to  i  inch;  vertical,  40,000  feet  to 
1  inch  ;   proportion,  I  :  16. 


NORTH  AMERICA 


BY 


ISRAEL    C.   RUSSELL 

PROFESSOR     OF    GEOLOGY    IN    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF     MICHIGAN 


With  Maps  and  Diagrams 


/330& 


tfTHEREGIONS:- 


OFTHEWORLP 


NEW     YORK 

D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1904 


Copyright,  1904 
By   D.    APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 


t 


PREFACE 


The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  give  a  condensed  and,  I 
trust,  readable  account  of  the  leading  facts  concerning  the 
North  American  continent  which,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  geographer,  seem  most  interesting  and  instructive. 
The  area  of  the  continent  is  so  vast  and  the  diversity 
among  its  various  parts  so  great,  however,  that  the  com- 
pleteness of  treatment  which  characterizes  the  preceding 
volumes  in  the  series  to  which  it  belongs  could  not  be  at- 
tempted. To  obviate  in  a  measure  this  confessed  short- 
coming, there  has  been  appended  to  each  chapter  a  list  of 
books  which  will  enable  the  reader  to  continue  the  studies 
outlined  in  it. 

A  complete  review  of  the  geography  of  a  continent 
should,  as  it  seems  to  me,  be  divided  into  two  parts:  first, 
a  discussion  of  the  natural  conditions,  or  physical  geog- 
raphy, and,  second,  man's  dependence  on  and  use  of  the 
natural  resources,  or  economic  geography.  Each  of  these 
two  leading  phases  of  the  subject  was  embraced  in  the  pre 
Hminary  outline  of  the  present  volume,  but  owing  to  a  de- 
sire to  make  each  chapter  as  complete  as  practicable,  and 
also  on  account  of  limitations  as  to  space,  the  treatmenl  <»t 
the  economic  phases  of  geography  has  been  necessarily 
brief.  But  little  more  can  be  claimed  for  the  book  as  fin- 
ished than  that  it  is  an  attempt  to  describe  some  of  the 
more  prominent  and  attractive  aspects  <>f  the  natural  con- 
ditions pertaining  to  North  America. 


vi  NORTH    AMERICA 

While  writing  this  book  I  have  become  more  and  more 
impressed  with  the  incompleteness  and  inadequacy  of  the 
printed  records  relating  to  the  geography  of  the  continent 
of  which  it  treats.  Extensive  tracts,  particularly  in  the  far 
North,  have  not  been  traversed  by  observant  men,  vast 
areas  throughout  the  continent  have  not  been  surveyed 
and  mapped,  and  even  in  the  somewhat  thickly  inhabited 
portions  of  the  more  enlightened  countries  there  are  large 
districts  in  reference  to  the  geography  of  which  there  is 
but  little  critical  information  available.  Under  these  con- 
ditions it  seemed  best  to  select  typical  examples  of  various 
geographical  features  from  the  better  known  portions  of 
the  continent  to  represent  the  conditions  throughout  the 
less  thoroughly  explored  domain  in  which  they  are  situ- 
ated, and  at  the  same  time  serve  to  illustrate  the  highly 
creditable  advances  made  by  American  geographers  in 
definitely  formulating  the  principles  of  physiography.  The 
book  may,  in  a  measure,  be  considered  as  an  attempt  to 
present  in  popular  form  a  report  of  progress  concerning 
the  study  of  the  geographical  development  of  North 
America  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century. 

I.  C.  R. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Margin  of  the  Continent i 

The  continental  shelf — The  submarine  topography  of  the 
Caribbean  region — Movements  of  the  ocean  waters — Islands — 
Topography  of  the  coast — Estuaries  and  harbours. 

II.  The  Topography  of  the  Land 60 

Coastal  plains  and  plateaus — The  Atlantic  mountains — The 
continental  basin — The  Pacific  mountains — The  Antillean 
mountains. 

III.  Climate 173 

The  elements  of  climate — Climatic  provinces-1—  Secondary  dis- 
turbances of  the  atmosphere — Evaporation. 

IV.  Plant  Life 215 

The  forests — Prairies,  treeless  plains,  and  plateaus — The  tree- 
less mountain  tops. 

V.  Animal  Life 258 

General  principles  of  geographical  distribution — Life-regions 
and  life-zones — The  mammals — Some  representative  mammals 
— The  birds. 

VI.  Geology 299 

The  growth  of  the  continent — The  rocks  of  which  the  con- 
tinent is  composed — The  concentration  of  mineral  substances. 

VII.  The  Aborigines 354 

The  Eskimos — The  Indians. 

VIII.  Political  Geography 4°8 

Classification    of   boundaries — Political  control  —  Population    in 

[g  ><<. 

Index 427 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


COLOURED   MAPS  fac,ng 

PLATE  PAGE 

I.  Orographical  features 25 

II.   Mean  annual  rainfall  and  temperature 173 

III.  Climate  and  life  provinces 185 

IV.  Leading  geological  features 306 

V.  Pleistocene  glacial  deposits      .         . 315 

VI.   Linguistic  stocks  of  Indians  North  of  Mexico         ....  370 

VII.  Distribution  of  governments    . 410 

VIII.  Characteristic  vegetation 418 

OTHER    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG.  PAGE 

1.  Relief  map  of  North  America Frontispiece 

2.  Profile  of  a  continental  shelf 2 

3.  Map  of  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Carribbean  region,  showing  topog- 

raphy of  the  sea-floor 17 

4.  Cotidal  lines 28 

5.  Profile  of  sea-cliff  and  cut-and-built  terrace 33 

6.  Map  of  a  portion  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States         .         .  35 

7.  Map  of  Mobile  Bay 3° 

8.  Map  of  Cape  Cod 37 

9.  Map  of  the  coast  of  Texas    . 29 

10.  Map  of  a  portion  of  the  coast  of  Maine         ......  45 

11.  Map  of  the  coast  of  southeastern  Alaska       ......  -47 

12.  Map  of  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi 54 

13.  Map  giving  the  names  of  the  larger  physiographic  divi  ions  <>f  N'orih 

America 01 

14.  Altitude  map  of  North  America    ........  65 

15.  Map  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains /''"'V  74 


NORTH    AMERICA 


FIG. 
1 6. 

17- 

18. 
19. 

20. 

21. 
22. 

23- 
24. 
25- 

26. 

27- 
2S. 

29. 
30. 

31. 

32. 

33- 
34- 
35- 
36. 

37- 
38. 
39- 


Section  of  anticlinal  valleys  and  synclinal  mount 


facing 


facing 


States 


Profile  showing  relation  of  ancient  peneplains  in 

Section  through  the  Black  Hills  of  Dakota  . 

Sketch  of  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado  Rive 

Map  of  the  Great  Basin         .... 

Map  of  Crater  Lake,  Oregon 

Mount  Rainier,  Washington  .... 

Map  of  Puget  Sound     ..... 

Map  showing  isobars  for  January  and  July  . 

Ice-palace,  Montreal     ..... 

Map  showing  tracks  of  West  Indian  hurricanes 

Map  showing  depth  of  evaporation  in  the  Unite 

Map  showing  distribution  of  forests 

Douglas  firs,  Vancouver         .... 

View    in   redwood  forest  of  California,  from    photograph 

Bureau  of  Forestry  ..... 
Bison  at  Silver  Heights,  Winnipeg 
Map  showing  range  of  bison 

Maps  showing  the  growth  of  the  North  Ameiican  contment 
Map  showing  the  distribution  of  coal-fields 
Ideal  section  through  an  oil  and  gas  pool  beneath  an  anticlinal 
Lodge  or  tepee  of  Blackfoot  Indians,  Manitoba.     .         .         .   facing 
Panorama  of  Uxmal,  Vucatan 
Pointed  arches  in  Central  Ameiican  ruins   . 
Carved  stonework,  Uxmal,  Vucatan  .....        facing 


the  Appal 


by   U.    S 
facing 


PAGB 
73 
8l 
117 
135 
I3S 
155 
156 
iGl 

174 
199 
210 
213 
2l6 
241 

243 

275 
276 

304 

337 
339 
3S7 
391 

392 
394 


NORTH   AMERICA 


CHAPTER    I 

THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT THE 

CONTINENTAL    SHELF 

3  3  O  £ 

In  beginning  the  study  of  the  physical  geography  of 
North  America,  one  of  the  first  facts  to  claim  attention 
is  that  the  true  continental  border  is  in  general  many 
miles  seaward  from  the  present  margin  of  the  land.  The 
boundary  of  our  field  of  study  is  defined  with  considerable 
accuracy  by  a  line  drawn  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea  adjacent 
to  the  present  coast-line  of  the  continent  so  as  to  pass 
through  all  points  where  the  soundings  show  a  depth  of 
ioo  fathoms  of  water.  This  ioo-fathom  contour  in  the 
topography  of  the  sea-floor  chances  to  coincide  in  a  general 
way  with  the  outline  of  the  submerged  border  of  the  conti- 
nent; landward  from  it  the  bottom  rises  with  a  gentle  slope, 
while  seaward  the  descent  is  usually  steep  down  to  a  depth 
of  2,000  or  more  fathoms. 

A  gently  sloping  shelf-like  border  surrounds  the  deep 
central  basin  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  (Fig.  3).  To  the  west 
and  north  of  Yucatan  and  west  of  Florida  the  shelf  is  from 
140  to  160  miles  broad,  with  a  surface  slope  towards  the 
centre  of  the  Gulf  of  less  than  6  feet  to  a  mile — a  slope  so 
gentle  that  were  the  surface  of  the  shelf  exposed  to  view, 
no  eye  could  distinguish  it  from  a  perfect  plain.  The 
deepest  sounding  yet  obtained  in  the  central  part  of  the 
Ciulf,  approximately  midway  between  Yucatan  and  Florida, 
shows  a  depth  of  2,119  fathoms.  The  remarkable  fact  is 
that  the  slope  from  the  ioo-fathom  line  to  the  bottom  of 
the  central  basin  of  the  Gulf  is  precipitous.     In  two  pi  ices 

1 


2  NORTH    AMERICA 

on  the  border  of  the  Yucatan  bank  a  descent  of  about 
8,500  feet  occurs  within  a  horizontal  distance  of  15  or 
20  miles. 

-  On  the  east  side  of  the  southern  extremity  of  Florida, 
and  again  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Yucatan,  the  continental 
shelf  is  only  about  5  miles  broad;  these  are  the  nearest 
approaches  of  the  present  land  to  the  actual  border  of  the 
continent  to  be  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  explana- 
tion of  these  exceptional  conditions  is  that  both  Florida  and 
Yucatan  are  portions  of  the  continental  shelf  which  have 
been  raised  so  as  to  form  low  emerged  plains. 

From  Cape  Hatteras  northward  to  the  extremity  of  the 
Newfoundland  Banks  the  shelf  increases  gradually  in 
breadth  from  about  15  miles  in  the  region  of  the  Carolinas 


Shallow  Water  on  Ocean 

Continental  Shelf  Deep  Water 


: t 

Fig.  2. — Ideal  profile  through  a  continental  shelf. 

to  over  100  miles  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  The  outer  border 
of  the  shelf  is  an  irregular  curving  line.  Opposite  the 
coast  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine  an  extension  of  the  Atlan- 
tic basin  reaches  within  1 5  or  20  miles  of  the  present  margin 
of  the  land.  The  manner  in  which  the  low  plain  fringing 
the  eastern  border  of  the  United  States  passes  beneath  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  becomes  a  continental  shelf  is 
illustrated  by  Fig.  2. 

Southeast  of  Newfoundland  the  continental  shelf  has 
an  irregular  surface,  marked  by  shoals  and  depressions,  and 
furnishes  the  most  valuable  fishing-banks  in  the  world. 
The  100-fathora  curve  is  there  over  500  miles  from  the 
coast.  This  &  the  broadest  portion  of  the  continental  shelf 
now  known  on  the  Atlantic  border  of  the  continent. 
Northward  of  Newfoundland  the  Atlantic  basin  extends 
far  into  Davis  Strait  and  Baffin  Bay,  and  then  its  border 
swings  outward  about  Greenland,  but  its  true  margin  is 
there  but  imperfectly  known. 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT        3 

To  the  north  of  the  arctic  coast  of  North  America, 
aa  is  suggested  in  part  by  the  soundings  made  by  Nansen, 
the  submerged  margin  of  the  continent  is  probably  broad 
and  presents  a  steep  escarpment  to  the  arctic  basin,  but  the 
outline  of  the  true  continent,  as  in  the  case  of  the  present 
land  extension  in  that  direction,  is  unknown. 

Soundings  to  the  north  of  Cape  Lisburne,  on  the 
northwest  coast  of  Alaska,  show  that  the  ioo- fathom 
curve  is  there  over  200  miles  from  land.  The  exception- 
ally shallow  sea  covering  this  portion  of  the  shelf  contin- 
ues westward  to  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  southward  through 
Bering  Strait,  so  as  to  embrace  the  eastern  portion  of 
Bering  Sea.  The  continental  mass  of  North  America  is 
thus  directly  connected  with  the  continental  mass  of 
Asia.  A  rise  of  the  bottom  of  less  than  200  feet  in  Bering 
Strait  would  bring  about  a  land  connection  between  the 
Old  and  the  New  World.  This,  as  will  appear  later, 
is  a  most  significant  fact  to  students  of  geography  and 
geology. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America  the  continental 
shelf  is  throughout  much  narrower  than  its  average  breadth 
on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  continent,  and  is  also  more 
deeply  submerged  on  its  seaward  border.  The  broad  plat- 
form beneath  the  northern  and  eastern  portions  of  Bering 
Sea — from  which  rise  the  low  islands,  St.  Lawrence,  St. 
Matthew,  Nunivak,  an'd  the  Pribilof  group,  now  separated 
by  water  from  25  to  35  fathoms  dee]) — extends  to  the 
south  of  the  more  easterly  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  and  is 
prolonged  eastward  along  the  south  border  of  Alaska, 
where  the  100-fathom  curve  is  from  10  to  20  miles  from  the 
coast-line,  and  approaches  still  nearer  the  land  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  islands  of  southeastern  Alaska  and  British 
Columbia.  The  shelf  is  narrow  but  well  denned  along  the 
coasts  of  Washington  and  Oregon.  Adjacent  to  Califor- 
nia, Mexico,  and  Central  America,  its  outer  margin  is 
barely  10  miles  from  land.  Throughout  the  entire  distance 
from  the  Aleutian  Islands  to  Panama  the  outer  border  of 
the  shelf  is  in  general  well  defined,  and  its  seaward  escarp- 
ment descends  abruptly  to  the  floor  of  the  vast   Pacific 


4  NORTH    AMERICA 

basin,  where  the  sounding-line  shows  depths  of  from  2,000 
to  3,000  fathoms. 

Could  the  waters  of  the  sea  be  removed  and  North 
America  viewed  from  a  distance,  in  the  manner  we  are 
enabled  to  examine  the  surface  features  of  the  moon  through 
a  powerful  telescope,  an  observer  would  behold  a  great 
plateau,  having  the  present  well-known  triangular  shape  of 
the  continent,  rising  boldly  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific  basins.  The  surface  of  the  plateau  would  be  rough, 
in  comparison  with  the  generally  smooth  contours  of  the 
adjacent  troughs,  but  even  the  highest  mountains  would  be 
less  in  elevation  above  its  general  surface  than  the  crests 
of  its  bordering  escarpments  above  the  adjacent  depres- 
sions. The  mountain-peaks  when  illuminated  by  the  sun 
would  appear  as  points  of  light  with  long,  tapering  morn- 
ing and  evening  shadows,  and  the  east  and  west  pla- 
teau-borders would  be  strongly  drawn  bands  of  light  or 
shadow,  according  to  the  time  of  day,  6.000  or  S.oco  miles 
in  length.  The  Bermuda,  Hawaiian,  and  other  islands 
now  rising  above  the  surface  of  the  deep  sea  would  stand 
on  its  desiccated  floor  as  isolated,  gigantic  moun- 
tains— "  Bermuda  mountain"  with  an  elevation  of  15.000 
feet,  and  the  Hawaiian  group  of  peaks  with  a  culmi- 
nating point  of  light  30,000  feet  above  the  surrounding 
plain.  The  bordering  slopes  of  the  "  North  American 
plateau  "  and  its  slightly  bevelled  margin  forming  the 
present  continental  shelf  would  be  lacking  in  details,  and 
appear  as  a  vast,  smooth,  curving  belt  of  light  or  shadow, 
in  striking  contrast  to  the  roughened  surface  now  above 
water. 

The  North  American  continent  is  not  exceptional  in 
being  partially  submerged  at  the  present  time.  Similar 
conditions  occur  about  the  margins  of  other  continents 
which,  as  is  well  known,  are  fringed  with  broad  submarine 
terraces  built  in  part  of  their  own  debris.  In  fact,  every 
large  land  mass  on  the  earth  under  existing  climatic  condi- 
tions and  present  distribution  of  life,  if  it  remained  moder- 
ately stable  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  would  have  a 
submarine  shelf  built  about  its  borders. 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT         5 

Of  what  is  the  Continental  Shelf  Composed.'' — The  rocks 
forming  the  present  land  surface  of  North  America  extend 
seaward  from  the  existing  shores  and  constitute  the  basal 
portions  of  the  continental  shelf,  thus  suggesting  that  the 
submerged  platform  is  due,  in  part  at  least,  to  shore  erosion 
— the  waves  having  eaten  into  the  land  so  as  to  make  a  ter- 
race. That  this  is  not  the  true  explanation,  however,  may 
be  shown  in  several  ways. 

The  superficial  covering  which  gives  the  continental 
shelf  its  smooth  contours  is  composed  largely  of  sedi- 
ments such  as  rivers  bring  from  the  land.  This  material 
is  coarsest  and  in  greatest  abundance  near  shore  and  de- 
creases both  in  the  size  of  the  particles  composing  it  and 
in  abundance  towards  the  seaward  borders  of  the  shelf. 
The  wash  from  the  land  is  mostly  deposited  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  coast-line  and,  as  has  been  shown  by  dredg- 
ing, is  seldom  carried,  even  under  the  most  favourable 
conditions,  more  than  about  ioo  miles  seaward.  Sup- 
plementing the  fragmental  material  derived  from  the  land, 
and  increasing  in  thickness  towards  the  seaward  margin  of 
the  continental  shelf — coincident  with  the  increase  in  depth 
of  the  water — is  a  deposit  of  light-coloured  calcareous  mud 
or  ooze,  formed  of  the  hard  parts  of  animals  and  plants 
which  live  in  the  waters  of  the  sea.  The  organisms  which 
supply  this  material  are  in  the  main  microscopic  and  live 
especially  in  the  warmer  seas  in  countless  myriads.  Their 
dead  shells  or  cases  fall  to  the  sea-floor  in  a  constant  sin  »v\  er, 
much  as  the  snow  falls  from  the  air,  but  continuously  year 
after  year  and  century  after  century.  This  descent  of  the 
hard  parts  of  organisms,  both  calcareous  and  silicious,  from 
the  waters  of  the  sea  has  led  to  the  accumulation  of  a  sheet 
of  slimy  sediment  over  almost  the  entire  sea  bottom.  How 
thick  this  layer  is  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but  it  i^ 
pr<  ibably  many  hundreds  of  feet. 

The  organic  debris  falling  on  the  continental  shelf  de- 
scends through  only  a  few  hundred  fret  of  water  and  is  but 
little  affected  by  its  solvenl  action.  The  great  number  <<i 
organisms,  such  a-  the  Foraminifera  which  secrete  calca- 
reous tests  or  "  shells  "  causes  the  slime  on  the  continental 


6  NORTH    AMERICA 

shelves  to  be  calcareous  and  in  the  condition  to  form  lime- 
stone if  cemented  or  subjected  to  sufficient  pressure.  In 
the  deep  sea,  where  the  hard  parts  of  dead  organisms  fall 
through  many  thousands  of  feet  of  water,  their  more 
soluble  portions  are  removed  and  the  bottom  is  covered 
throughout  vast  areas  with  a  pinkish  clay  composed  of  the 
more  insoluble  residue  of  the  calcareous  shells  and  the 
cases  of  silica-secreting  animals  and  plants. 

The  continental  shelves  are,  in  general,  within  the  influ- 
ences of  ocean  currents,  and  fine  debris,  as  we  seem  justified 
in  concluding,  is  removed  from  their  surfaces,  carried  be- 
yond their  margins,  and  deposited  on  their  seaward  slopes. 
The  shelves  are  thus  built  outward  and  are  largely  con- 
structional topographic  forms.  Their  outer  slopes,  where 
best  defined,  represent  about  the  "  angle  of  repose  "  in 
water  of  the  fine  material  of  which  they  are  composed. 
These  slopes  are  in  several  regions  so  precipitous  that  they 
probably  would  not  retain  their  present  forms,  but  descend 
in  landslides,  should  the  restraining  pressure  of  the  sea- 
water  be  removed. 

In  certain  favoured  regions,  as  about  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Florida,  over  an  extensive  area  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  on  both  sides  of  Central  America,  the  conditions 
favour  the  growth  of  reef-building  coral-polyps,  and  por- 
tions of  the  continental  shelf  in  that  region  are  covered  with 
an  irregular  layer  of  living  coral  and  dead  coral-rock.  The 
importance  of  this  resistant  superficial  layer  on  the  minor 
features  of  the  relief  of  the  submarine  banks,  etc.,  needs 
to  be  considered  in  studying  the  secondary  topographic 
features  of  many  portions  of  the  floor  of  shallow  trop- 
ical seas. 

In  addition  to  the  debris  from  the  land  and  the  rain  of 
the  hard  parts  of  organisms  from  the  water  covering  the 
continental  shelf  there  is  in  northern  regions  a  third  but 
less  important  source  of  material  furnished  by  floating  ice. 
About  the  northern  shores  of  America  sea  ice  forms  in 
winter,  some  of  which  is  frozen  fast  to  boulders  and  stones 
in  shallow  water,  and  when  this  ice-foot,  as  it  is  termed,  is 
adjacent  to  steep  cliffs,  rock  debris  falls  upon  it.     When 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT        7 

the  ice  becomes  broken  into  cakes  in  the  spring-time  or 
during  storms,  it  floats  away,  under  the  influence  of  the 
winds  and  currents,  and  as  it  melts  drops  its  freight  on  the 
floor  of  the  sea.  This  shore  ice  seldom  travels  far,  and  is 
probably  not  an  important  factor  in  the  building  of  conti- 
nental shelves.  Of  greater  interest  are  the  bergs  derived 
from  glaciers,  especially  in  Greenland,  many  of  which  con- 
tain hundreds  of  thousands  and  even  millions  of  cubic  feet 
of  ice  and  travel  hundreds  of  miles  before  melting.  In  some 
instances  these  bergs  carry  with  them  rock  masses,  mud, 
etc.,  derived  from  the  land  over  which  their  parent  glaciers 
flowed,  and  as  they  melt,  distribute  this  material  over  the 
sea-floor.  The  greater  portion  of  this  ice-carried  freight 
derived  from  Greenland  is  dropped  on  the  continental  shelf, 
and  not  infrequently  reaches  the  latitude  of  Halifax,  and 
even  journeys  farther  south.  This  berg-carried  debus  is 
mainly  deposited  on  the  continental  shelf,  for  the  reason 
that  the  cold  currents  which  bring  the  bergs  southward 
follow  the  coast  in  a  general  way,  and  are  bordered  on  their 
seaward  margins  by  warmer  currents  flowing  northward. 
To  the  north  of  Nova  Scotia  the  additions  of  material  to 
the  continental  shelf  through  the  agency  of  bergs  is  consid- 
erable in  the  aggregate,  and  as  the  process  has  been  in  opera- 
tion for  thousands  of  years,  the  banks  or  shoals  in  the 
sea  off  the  Newfoundland  coast  are  due  in  part  to  this 
cause. 

Ice-carried  debris  forms  an  important  source  of  material 
for  the  building  of  the  continental  shelf  from  New  England 
northward  and  westward  about  the  shores  of  North  Amer- 
ica, including  Greenland,  to  Bering  Sea.  and  to  a  less  extent 
on  the  south  coast  of  Alaska,  where  many  comparatively 
small  bergs  are  set  afloat  by  glaciers  which  reach  tide- 
water. Supplementing  the  distribution  of  debris  over  the 
continental  shelf  by  shore  ice  and  bergs,  is  the  similar  work 
carried  on  by  the  ice  discharged  into  the  sea  by  northern 
rivers,  such  as  the  St.  Lawrence,  Mackenzie,  and  the 
Yukon. 

1  )uring  the  glacial  ep< K'h  great  ice  sheets  like  tli' >se  now 
discharging  bergs  along  the  Greenland  coast,  Ian   vastly 


8  NORTH    AMERICA 

larger,  entered  the  Atlantic  all  the  way  from  New  York  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  along  the  Pacific  coast  from  the 
Aleutian  Islands  to  the  State  of  Washington.  During  cer- 
tain periods  of  this  time  of  intense  giaciation  great  addi- 
tions of  ice-borne  debris  must  have  been  made  to  the  conti- 
nental shelf.  The  banks  to  the  east  of  Newfoundland  and 
other  similar  shoals  as  far  south  as  Nantucket  are  probably 
due  in  large  part  to  the  debris  deposited  by  the  glaciers 
which  formerly  entered  the  sea  in  that  region.  It  is  of  inter- 
est in  this  connection  to  note  that  the  glaciers,  even  at  the 
time  of  their  greatest  expansion,  could  not  have  extended 
beyond  the  seaward  margin  of  the  continental  shelf,  for 
the  reason  that  on  passing  that  boundary  and  entering 
deep  water  they  must  have  broken  off  and  given  origin 
to  bergs. 

Submerged  River  Channels. — One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing: features  in  connection  with  the  continental  shelf  border- 
ing  North  America  is  that  its  generally  plane  surface  is 
trenched  in  several  places  by  canon-like  depressions  similar 
to  the  narrow  steep-sided  valleys  which  streams  sometimes 
cut  in  the  surfaces  of  plateaus.  This  suggestion  that  the 
surface  of  the  continental  shelf  is  crossed  by  stream-cut 
channels  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  several  such  depres- 
sions, leading  seaward  from  the  present  mouths  of  large  riv- 
ers, have  been  discovered  by  the  sounding-line.  The  best- 
known  example  occurs  off  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  and 
has  been  traced  from  New  York  Bay  about  120  miles  sea- 
ward to  the  edge  of  the  continental  shelf.  It  is  deepest 
and  best  defined  on  the  outer  portion  of  the  submerged 
plateau,  where  for  a  distance  of  23  miles,  beginning  97  miles 
from  Sandy  Hook,  it  has  an  average  width  of  3  miles  and  a 
maximum  depth  of  about  2.500  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  bordering  submarine  plain,  which  has  20  fathoms  of 
water  over  it.  This  canon  opens  out  in  the  seaward  face  of 
the  plateau  and  forms  a  deep  notch  in  the  generally  uniform 
crest-line  of  that  escarpment.  Farther  "  up-stream,"  so  to 
speak,  the  channel  narrows  to  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  with 
some  irregularities  in  depth,  and  near  Sandy  Hook  it  is  not 
apparent,  owing  to  the  amount  of  debris,  largely  sand,  swept 


•      THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    COXTIXEXT         9 

into  it  by  shore  currents.  This  evidence,  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  the  true  rock-cut  valley  of  the  Hudson  as  far  as 
Troy  is  tilled  with  clay  and  sand  to  a  considerable  but 
unknown  depth,  is  abundant  proof  that  the  land  was  for- 
merly higher  than  at  present  by  at  least  3,000  feet,  and  that 
the  now  submerged  continental  shelf  off  Long  Island  was 
then  a  plain  above  water,  across  which  the  ancient  Hudson 
was  extended.  The  river  flowed  across  this  plain  for  a 
sufficient  length  of  time  to  excavate  a  canon  over  2,500 
feet  deep  and  3  miles  wide  from  crest  to  crest  of  its  walls 
in  its  seaward  portion.  This  submerged  channel  has  the 
characteristics  of  a  young,  stream-cut  valley  and  suggests 
that  the  plain  across  which  it  flowed  to  the  eastward 
of  Long  Island  was  a  submerged  continental  shelf  pre- 
vious to  being  upraised  so  as  to  be  trenched  by  the 
Hudson. 

The  evidence  as  to  changes  in  the  elevation  of  the  At- 
lantic coast  furnished  by  the  submerged  valley  of  the  Hud- 
son does  not  stand  alone.  Similar  but  less  well-defined 
channels  have  been  discovered  by  soundings  off  the  mouths 
of  the  Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna,  while  the  most  , 
remarkable  instance  of  all  is  furnished  by  the  submerged 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  has  been  traced  through 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  out  to  the  brink  of  the  sub- 
merged continental  escarpment  some  200  miles  eastward 
of  Nova  Scotia.  The  tide  now  rises  and  falls  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Montreal;  that  is.  the 
"  Greater  St.  Lawrence  "  has  lost  about  1,000  miles  of  its 
length  owing  to  a  downward  movement  of  the  land. 

Evidence  of  the  nature  just  considered  is  lacking,  or. 
more  correctly,  surveys  and  soundings  which  would  per- 
haps reveal  the  presence  of  submerged  river  channels  have 
not  been  made  about  the  shores  of  the  more  northerly 
portion  01  the  continent,  but  instructive  results  in  this  con- 
nection are  to  be  expected  when  that  region  is  thoroughly 

studied. 

On  the  Pacific  coasl  several  transverse  channels  in 
the  continental  shelf,  similar  to  the  submerged  valleys  of 
the  Hudson,  have  been  discovered  by  soundings,  som<    "i 


io  NORTH    AMERICA 

which  are  thought  to  be  true  stream-cut  valleys;  others, 
however,  start  from  the  coast  where  there  are  no  rivers 
entering,  and  may  be  due  to  other  and  as  yet  unknown 
causes. 

An  exceptional  feature  in  the  geography  of  the  Pacific 
coast  to  the  south  of  the  United  States-Canadian  boundary 
is  furnished  by  the  islands  off  the  southern  portion  of  Cali- 
fornia. These  islands,  of  which  Santa  Rosa,  Santa  Cruz, 
Santa  Catalina.  and  San  Clemente  are  the  most  important, 
rise  from  water  that  is  300  or  more  fathoms  deep  to  a  height 
of  from  a  few  hundred  to  about  2,000  feet  above  the  present 
sea-level.  These  islands  are  the  summit  portions  of  moun- 
tains similar  to  those  which  give  a  characteristic  relief  to 
southern  California.  One  feature  concerning  the  islands 
referred  to  which  is  of  interest  in  connection  with  the  study 
of  the  continental  shelf  is  the  presence  on  them  of  numerous 
terraces.  These  occur  on  a  series  of  level,  step-like  areas, 
which  sweep  about  the  slopes  of  the  islands,  in  a  general 
way  parallel  to  the  present  shore-line,  and  are  records  of  an 
upward  movement  of  the  land.  The  highest  well-defined 
terrace  on  San  Clemente  occurs  at  an  elevation  of  1,320 
feet,  but  there  are  less  distinct  beach-lines  up  to  1,500  feet 
above  the  present  sea-level.  The  evidence  of  movements 
of  the  land  along  the  Pacific  border  of  the  continent  might 
be  multiplied,  but  enough  has  been  stated  to  show  that  the 
western  border  of  North  America,  like  its  eastern  portion, 
is  subject  to  fluctuation  in  reference  to  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  line  which  marks  the  passage  of  the  solid  earth  beneath 
the  waters  of  the  sea  is  ever  changing,  owing  to  move- 
ments in  the  earth's  crust.  It  is  ever  changing,  also,  owing 
to  the  action  of  waves  and  currents  on  the  ocean's  shores 
and  other  causes. 

Life  on  the  Continental  Shelf. — No  attempt  need  be  made 
here  to  give  an  accurate  description  of  the  plants  and  ani- 
mals which  find  a  congenial  home  on  the  continental  shelf. 
One  needs,  however,  to  have  in  mind  a  general  idea  of  the 
wonderful  abundance  and  variety  of  organic  forms  in  the 
shallow  waters  adjacent  to  the  continent  to  fully  appreciate 
the  changes  in  the  relief  of  the  ocean-floor,  in  which  they 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       n 

play  a  leading  part,  and  also  the  vast  economic  importance 
of  these  marine  harvest-fields  and  pastures,  as  they  may 
be  termed. 

The  continental  shelf  fringing  North  America  reaches 
from  within  500  miles  of  the  equator  to  probably  a  less  dis- 
tance of  the  north  pole.  Its  length  following  its  broader 
curves  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  25,000  miles,  and  its  aver- 
age width  is  not  far  from  50  miles;  its  area  is  therefore  some- 
thing like  1,000,000  square  miles.  On  account  of  the  vast 
extent  of  this  submarine  plain  and  its  great  range  in  latitude, 
the  conditions  influencing  the  lives  of  the  plants  and  animals 
inhabiting  its  surface  or  living  in  the  waters  covering  it 
vary  from  place  to  place  between  wide  extremes.  The 
waters  resting  on  it  have  a  mean  annual  surface  tempera- 
ture of  from  yo°  to  8o°  F.  at  the  south,  and  about  320  F.  at 
the  north.  In  places  great  rivers  and  the  turbid  waters 
from  glaciers  bring  in  sediments  and  form  muddy  deposits ; 
at  other  localities  the  currents,  as  in  the  path  of  the  Gulf 
Stream  off  the  Carolina  coast,  sweep  the  bottom  clear  of  all 
light  debris;  and  again  bare  rocks  of  limited  extent  are  ex- 
posed. The  depth  of  the  water  resting  on  the  shelf  varies 
through  all  gradations  down  to  100  fathoms.  At  the  south 
the  hours  of  light  and  darkness  are  approximately  equal  each 
day,  but  at  the  north  there  are  six  months  of  sunlight  and 
six  months  of  darkness  each  year.  Still  other  variations, 
as  of  strength  of  currents,  salinity,  etc.,  exert  an  influ- 
ence in  this  realm  and  lead  to  great  diversity  in  its  liv- 
ing organisms.  Throughout  its  entire  extent,  however,  the 
continental  shelf  abounds  in  both  plant  and  animal  life. 

The  plant  life  of  the  sea,  as  has  been  shown  in  recent 
years  by  the  use  of  the  dredge  and  net,  is  most  abundant  at 
the  surface  and  is  practically  absent  at  the  bottom  where  the 
water  is  over  100  fathoms  deep.  The  animals  of  the  sea, 
like  those  of  the  land,  are  dependent  primarily  on  plants  for 
their  i<«><\.  By  far  the  mosl  abundant  supply  of  food  plants 
in  the  sea  is  furnished  by  minute  alga',  which  lloat  free  iii  its 
water.  Below  a  depth  of  about  100  fathoms  alga'  are  ah- 
Senl    because  of  lack  of  light,  ami  all   the  deep  Sea  animals 

are  believed  to  be  carnivorous.    For  these  reas< »ns  the  com 


12  NORTH    AMERICA 

paratively  shallow  waters  adjacent  to  the  land  and  mainly 
c<  >vering  the  continental  shelf  are  the  most  favourably  cir- 
cumstanced of  any  portion  of  the  sea  for  the  support  of  a 
teeming  fauna. 

On  the  continental  shelf  of  North  America,  especially 
to  the  south  of  Cape  Cod  on  the  Atlantic  and  south  of 
the  Aleutian  Islands  on  the  Pacific  coast,  there  is  a  warm 
temperature,  light  penetrates  to  the  bottom  except  in  the 
unfavourable  and  fortunately  restricted  areas  of  muddy  wa- 
ter, and  motion  of  the  waters  produced  by  currents  and  the 
pulsations  of  waves  is  present.  These  several  favourable 
conditions  permit  of  an  exuberance  of  life  such  as  is  un- 
known to  persons  who  confine  their  attention  to  the  study 
of  land  areas. 

We  may  safely  say,  in  the  words  of  Alexander  Agassiz, 
that  the  abundance  of  life  in  the  many  favoured  localities  of 
the  ocean  far  surpasses  that  of  the  richest  terrestrial  faunal 
districts.  The  most  thickly  populated  tropical  jungle  does 
not  compare  in  wealth  of  animal  or  vegetable  life  with  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  continental  shelf  on  the  western  border 
of  the  Gulf  Stream.  In  this  connection  we  may  also  cite 
Humboldt,  who  before  the  marvellous  revelations  in  refer- 
ence to  the  life  of  the  sea  made  by  recent  dredging  expedi- 
tions wrote:  "  Upon  surfaces  less  varied  than  we  find  on 
continents,  the  sea  contains  in  its  bosom  an  exuberance  of 
life  of  which  no  other  portion  of  the  globe  could  give  us 
an  idea." 

The  distribution  of  life  in  the  sea  is  analogous  to  the 
distribution  of  life  on  land,  but  in  a  reverse  direction  with 
reference  to  sea-level.  A  traveller  passing  from  the  tropical 
plains  of  eastern  Mexico  and  ascending  Orizaba,  for  exam- 
ple, crosses  successive  belts  of  vegetation,  each  with  its 
indigenous  animals,  but  merging  one  with  another  so  as  to 
make  a  gradation  in  the  luxuriance  of  the  flora  and  the 
abundance  of  animal  life  from  the  wonderfully  rich  plains 
adjacent  to  the  Gulf  coast  to  the  snow-capped  mountain 
top.  In  the  sea,  the  tropical  plains  with  their  tangled 
vegetation  and  plentiful  animal  life  are  represented  by  the 
still  more  uniform  plain  forming  the  submerged  continental 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       13 

shelf  with  its  strange  forests  of  rlowerless  plants,  the  sea- 
weeds. These  submarine  jungles  shelter  hosts  of  animal 
species,  many  of  which  swarm  in  countless  myriads.  This 
life  embraces  all  grades  of  invertebrates,  such  as  the  micro- 
scopic protozoa,  sponges,  radiate  animals  like  the  coral- 
polyps,  starfishes,  sea-urchins,  etc.,  and  crustaceans  in  vast 
variety,  and,  among  vertebrates,  includes  fishes,  reptiles,  and 
mammals.  Even  birds  might  be  included  in  this  category, 
since  many  of  them  are  more  at  home  on  the  sea  than  on 
the  land. 

The  struggle  for  food  among  this  multitude  is  intense. 
As  with  many  animals  on  the  land,  adaptive  coloration  is 
here  a  means  of  escape  from  enemies,  and  many  of  the  ani- 
mals assume  the  brilliant  hues  of  the  surrounding  vegeta- 
tion. The  water  is  less  transparent  than  air,  and  in  the  deep 
sea  it  is  always  night.  Counteracting  to  some  extent  this 
diminution  or  absence  of  sunlight,  many  marine  animals 
are  luminous  and  shine  with  phosphorescent  light  of  many 
different  tints.  This  property  is  shared  also  by  the  animals 
of  the  sunny,  shallow  sea  as  well  as  by  those  always  living 
in  the  cold  midnight  of  the  great  deep  and  in  the  polar 
oceans. 

The  luxuriant  vegetation,  both  attached  and  float- 
ing, and  varying  from  giant  kelp,  scores  of  feet  in  length, 
to  microscopic  alga;  which  an  amoeba  might  encompass, 
clothes  the  surface  of  the  continental  shelf  except  in  unfa- 
vourable localities  or  is  carried  here  and  there  by  the  cur- 
rents moving  over  it,  but  has  its  lower  limit  at  about  the 
100-fathom  line.  This  inferior  limit  of  marine  vegetation  is 
probably  more  definitely  defined  than  the  superior  limit  of 
land  plants  on  snow-capped  mountains.  All  attached  sea- 
weeds are  confined  to  the  shallow  seas,  but  Heating  kelp, 
like  the  well-known  Gulf  weed  or  sargasso,  which  collects 
in  the  eddies  of  the  sea  currents  and  forms  more  or  less 
mythical  floating  islands,  is  widely  distributed,  a-  are 
also  many  kinds  of  minute  algae  which  thrive  in  the  upper 
too  fathoms  of  the  open  ocean  in  all  latitudes.  The  | 
mary  source  of  food  for  the  hungry  millions  of  marine  ani- 
mals, excepting  the  comparatively  small  quantity  brought 


14  NORTH    AMERICA 

by  rivers  or  blown  from  the  land,  is  supplied  by  the 
marine  algae,  and  mainly  by  the  minute  forms  which  float 
in  the  water. 

So  much  space  has  just  been  given  to  the  marvellous 
luxuriance  of  life  on  the  southern  portion  of  the  great  shelf 
surrounding  North  America  that  the  reader  may  perhaps 
think  the  cold  northern  oceans  are  even  more  lifeless  and 
desolate  than  their  adjacent  shores.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  case. 

Northward  along  the  continental  shelf,  with  decrease  in 
the  strength  of  the  sunlight,  the  plants  and  animals  lose 
much  of  the  brilliancy  which  characterizes  many  of  the 
denizens  of  southern  waters,  and  in  general  assume  more 
subdued  colours  in  harmony  with  the  prevailing  gray  of 
their  surroundings.  The  great  diversity  of  animal  life  to  be 
found  in  shallow  tropical  seas  decreases  as  one  traces  the 
continental  shelf  northward,  but  even  in  the  Arctic  Ocean 
adjacent  to  the  land  invertebrate  life  literally  swarms,  al- 
though the  number  of  species,  genera,  etc.,  is  comparatively 
limited.  Seaweeds  are  not  absent  from  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
although  its  shores,  owing  to  "tfecdestructive  action  of  ice, 
usually  seem  exceedingly  barren,  and  the  lower  or  smaller 
forms  of  algse  float  in  the  waters  in  abundance.  Food  suffi- 
cient for  an  extensive  fauna  is  thus  supplied,  and  where  food 
is  plentiful  animals  are  present  also,  no  matter  what  the  mean 
annual  temperature  may  be. 

The  life  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  has  been  but  inadequately 
studied,  but  enough  is  known  concerning  it  to  show  that  a 
promising  field  there  awaits  the  naturalist.  On  the  conti- 
nental shelf  off  Point  Barrow,  the  most  northern  portion 
of  the  arctic  shore  of  Alaska  (latitude  yi°  23').  180  species 
of  marine  invertebrates  have  been  collected.  Of  these,  the 
molluscs  numbered  61  species;  the  crustaceans,  44  species; 
the  worms,  20  species;  and  the  echinoderms  (sea-urchins, 
starfish,  etc.),  17  species. 

Nearly  all  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  adjacent  to  the  coast  of 
America  is  as  yet  unexplored,  and  we  have  therefore  no 
direct  testimony  as  to  its  flora  and  fauna.  We  may  reason- 
ably assume,  however,  that  the  life  is  there  practically  the 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       15 

same  as  in  the  waters  of  similar  depth  to  the  north  of  Eura- 
sia. Nordenskiold,  in  his  narrative  of  the  voyage  of  the 
Vega,  speaks  of  decapods,  worms,  mussels,  Crustacea,  and 
asteroids  which  crawled  in  myriads  over  the  beds  of  clay 
and  sand  at  the  bottom  of  the  Kara  Sea.  A  detailed  account 
is  given  of  one  unusually  successful  haul  of  the  trawl  when  it 
brought  up  large  asteroids,  sponges,  crinoids,  holothuria, 
a  gigantic  spider,  masses  of  worms,  Crustacea,  etc.  This 
was  the  most  abundant  yield  of  the  trawl-net  at  any  one 
time  during  the  voyage  of  the  Vega  on  the  north  coast 
of  Asia,  and  that,  too,  from  the  sea  off  the  northern  extrem- 
ity of  the  continent.  The  temperature  of  the  water  at  the 
surface  was  from  zero  to  —  1.40  C.  (320  to  29.480  F.),  and 
at  the  bottom  from  — 1.40  to  i.6°  C.  (29.480  to  34.880  F.). 
In  this  connection  the  same  distinguished  naturalist  re- 
marks: "  It  is  singular  that  a  temperature  under  the  freez- 
ing-point of  pure  water  should  be  advantageous  for  the 
development  of  an  animal  life  so  extremely  rich  as  that 
which  is  found  here,  and  that  this  animal  life  should  not 
suffer  any  harm  from  the  complete  darkness  which  during 
the  greater  portion  of  the  year  prevails  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ice-covered  sea." 

To  persons  who  have  never  visited  the  far  north  the 
statements  that  travellers  in  those  regions  give  in  reference 
to  the  abundance  of  life  in  the  sea  seems  scarcely  to  be 
credited.  The  assertion,  however,  that  comparing  equal 
areas  in  the  most  populous  tropical  sea  and  in  portions  of 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  the  amount  of  life,  or  the  tons  of  living 
animal  matter  per  square  mile  in  the  two  regions,  would  be 
in  favour  of  the  northern  station  is  probably  true,  hi  addi- 
tion to  the  direct  evidence  indicated  above  as  to  the  prolific 
invertebrate  life  of  the  cold  waters  of  the  north,  we  have  still 
more  impressive  testimony  from  the  vast  numbers  of  birds 
and  large-sized  mammals  which  subsist  on  this  abundance, 
or  feed  on  fishes,  which  in  turn  1  >btain  their  subsistence  fn  >ni 
the  invertebrate  realm. 

Every  rocky  island  and  headland  at  the  north  is  a  breed 
ing-place  for  sea-birds.    They  are  to  be  numbered  by  mil- 
lions, yet  their  daily  food  is  gathered  fn  im  the  surface  ol  the 


1 6  NORTH    AMERICA 


i 


sea.  The  seals  live  in  large  numbers  about  all  the  arctic 
shore,  and  the  walruses,  each  individual  weighing  about  a 
ton,  occur  in  herds;  while  whales  and  narwhals  inhabit  the 
same  waters.  The  presence  of  such  numbers  of  large 
mammals  is  proof  that  the  life  on  which  they  subsist  is 
abundant. 

THE  SUBMARINE   TOPOGRAPHY    OF   THE   CARIBBEAN    REGION 

The  studies  which  have  given  to  the  world  so  much 
information  concerning  the  continental  shelf  surrounding 
the  main  body  of  North  America  have  been  continued,  or, 
perhaps  more  properly,  were  initiated,  in  the  West  Indian 
waters.  For  this  important  work  we  are  indebted  mainly 
to  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  and  the 
United  States  Fish  Commission.  The  work  of  officers  of 
the  United  States  Navy  in  charge  of  Coast  Survey  and  Fish 
Commission  vessels,  in  making  accurate  measurements  of 
depths,  temperatures,  strength  and  direction  of  currents, 
character  of  bottom,  etc.,  has,  in  some  instances,  been  com- 
memorated on  maps  of  the  sea-floor  by  such  names  as 
Brownson  Deep,  Sigsbee  Deep,  Bartlett  Deep,  etc.  The 
routine  survey  work  referred  to  has  been  supplemented 
and  extended  by  the  labours  of  Louis  Agassiz,  L.  F.  Pour- 
tales,  Alexander  Agassiz,  and  others  in  studying  the  life  in 
the  sea,  the  origin  and  history  of  the  material  forming  the 
sea-bottom,  and  the  nature  of  the  shelves,  banks,  deeps,  etc., 
which  give  diversity  to  its  topography. 

The  continental  shelf  bordering  Florida  on  the  east  is 
separated  from  a  similar  submarine  embankment  surround- 
ing the  Bahama  Islands  by  a  channel  56  miles  wide  and 
from  200  to  500  fathoms  deep  (Fig.  3).  This  channel  when 
followed  northward  becomes  shallower  and  broader,  and 
opposite  the  Carolina  coast  is  no  longer  discernible  in  the 
relief  of  the  broad  continental  shelf.  The  Gulf  Stream 
flows  northward  through  this  Florida  channel  as  it  is 
termed,  with  a  current  of  from  2  to  6  miles  per  hour.  These 
conditions  are  such  as  to  suggest  that  the  channel  referred 
to  has  in  part  been  excavated  by  the  Gulf  Stream. 


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v-  5 


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18  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  Great  Bahama  Bank,  from  which  rise  the  low  coral- 
built  Andros  Islands  and  a  large  number  of  crags  and  rocks, 
measures  about  360  geographical  miles  from  southeast  to 
northwest,  and  has  a  width  of  approximately  200  geograph- 
ical miles.  Throughout  its  entire  submerged  portion  the 
water  is  less  than  100,  and  over  much  of  the  area  less  than 
10  fathoms  deep.  It  is  invaded  and  given  an  irregular 
shape,  however,  by  a  "  tongue  of  the  ocean  "  which  curves 
in  from  the  northward,  in  which  soundings  of  from  700  to 
1,000  fathoms  have  been  obtained.  To  the  north  of  the 
Great  Bahama  Bank,  and  separated  from  it  by  water  nearly 
2,000  fathoms  deep,  is  the  Little  Bahama  Bank,  measur- 
ing 50  by  150  geographical  miles,  from  which  rises  the  low 
islands  known  as  Great  Bahama,  Great  Abaco,  and  a  multi- 
tude of  islets  and  crags,  while  beneath  the  water,  as  is  the 
case  also  on  the  greater  submarine  plateau  to  the  south, 
there  are  numerous  shoals.  Southeast  from  the  Great  Ba- 
hama Bank,  and  in  a  general  view  to  be  classed  with  it,  are 
several  other  shallow  areas  in  the  sea,  of  similar  character, 
and  with  numerous  islands  and  reefs  rising  from  them.  The 
southeastern  terminus  of  this  series  of  plateaus,  the  sur- 
faces of  which  have  been  built  up  practically  to  the  level 
of  the  surface  of  the  sea,  is  the  Navidad  Bank,  situated 
about  50  miles  to  the  north  of  the  eastern  end  of  the  island 
of  Santo  Domingo  (Haiti)  and  forms  the  west  border  of 
Brownson  Deep.  The  length  of  the  series  of  banks  to  the 
north  of  the  Greater  Antilles  is  about  800,  and  its  average 
width  120  geographical  miles. 

The  unevenness  of  the  surface  of  the  Bahama  Banks 
(and  the  same  is  true  also  of  the  southern  portion  of  Florida, 
the  Yucatan  peninsula,  and  of  nearly  all  of  the  submarine 
plateaus  or  banks  in  West  India  waters)  is  largely  due  to  the 
coral  reefs  and  the  coral  rock  formed  on  them.  While  the 
outer  portion  of  the  continental  shelf,  in  most  instances,  is 
formed  of  soft,  unconsolidated  calcareous  mud  or  ooze,  in 
the  tropical  seas,  where  the  depth,  clearness  of  the  water, 
etc.,  are  favourable,  reef-building  coral-polyps  become  at- 
tached and  form  massive  corals.  The  growth  of  these 
corals  is  irregular,  and  the  surface  of  the  plateaus  where 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       19 

they  are  attached  becomes  roughened.  There  is  a  delicate 
adjustment  between  the  growth  of  reef-building  corals  and 
strength  of  current,  freedom  of  exposure  to  the  waves,  etc., 
and  they  flourish  in  certain  localities,  as  on  the  windward 
border  of  islands,  and  die  at  other  localities.  The  growth 
of  coral  "  heads  "  and  reefs  changes  the  direction  of  cur- 
rents, and  the  spaces  of  soft  ooze  and  dead  coral  between 
the  localities  most  favourable  for  coral  growth  are  liable  to 
be  scoured  out  and  the  bottom  lowered.  When  coral,  to- 
gether with  the  shells  of  molluscs  and  other  organic  refuse 
of  the  teeming  life  of  tropical  seas,  reaches  the  surface  of 
the  water,  fragments  and  even  large  masses  are  broken  off 
by  the  force  of  the  waves,  ground  into  calcareous  sand 
owing  to  the  movements  produced  by  the  waves  and  cur- 
rents, and  much  of  it  heaped  on  the  borders  of  the  reefs  so 
as  to  raise  them  above  the  fair-weather  level  of  the  sea. 
Much  of  this  material,  when  it  becomes  dry,  is  moved  by 
the  winds  and  built  into  dunes,  thus  still  further  increasing 
the  height  of  the  land.  Many  of  the  islands  in  the  Bahamas 
have  thus  been  formed,  but  the  process  has  been  modified 
in  the  greater  part  of  that  region  by  movements  in  the 
earth's  crust  which  have  produced  widely  extended  eleva- 
tions and  depressions.  The  larger  islands  in  the  Bahama 
group  are  coral  platforms  which  have  been  moderately  ele- 
vated, and  bear  on  their  surfaces  extensive  accumulations 
of  wind-deposited  sand.  The  Yucatan  peninsula  is  also,  to 
a  great  extent,  an  upraised  coral  platform.  The  surfaces 
of  such  exposed  areas  of  easily  soluble  calcareous  rocks  are 
roughened  still  more  by  the  action  of  rain  and  percolating 
waters,  and  if  subsequently  submerged  to  a  moderate  depth 
would  give  origin  to  "banks"  with  uneven,  and  p<>s-,il,]y 
conspicuously  roughened  surfaces.  Different  stages  in  this 
varied  history  are  illustrated  throughout  the  West  India 
region. 

About  the  Caribbean  coast  of  Honduras  and  Nicaragua 

the  continental  shelf  is  broad  and  is  termed  the   Mosquito 

Bank,  in  reference  to  its  proximity  to  the  widely  known 

coast  of  that  name.     (  M'f  the  northeasl  cape  of  Honduras 

ubmerged  shelf  has  a  breadth  of  about  [25  geograph- 


20  NORTH    AMERICA 

ical  miles,  and  is  succeeded  to  the  eastward  by  the  much 
smaller,  isolated,  submarine  plateau  known  as  the  Rosalind 
Bank.  Even  on  a  small  map.  like  that  forming  Fig.  3, 
it  is  readilv  seen  that  in  general  terms  there  is  a  series  of 
banks  and  low  islands  extending  from  the  Mosquito  Coast 
to  Jamaica,  Santo  Domingo,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Carib- 
bees.  The  distance  measured  along  the  curved  line  con- 
necting the  several  areas  of  shallow  water  is  about  1.700 
geographical  miles.  Should  this  region  be  upraised  600 
feet,  the  new  lands  that  would  appear  would  still,  in  several 
instances,  be  separated  by  deep  water,  thus  showing  that 
although  in  a  generalized  view  it  is  convenient  to  consider 
the  banks  and  shelves  referred  to  as  parts  of  a  single  great 
group,  there  are  several  centres  from  which  they  have 
grown. 

A  third  great  group  of  banks  and  shoals  occurs  about 
the  borders  of  Cuba,  especially  along  its  southern  margin. 
Associated  with  this  submerged  plain  of  calcareous  mud, 
roughened  by  countless  coral  crags,  is  a  narrow  east-and- 
west  ridge  in  the  Caribbean  Sea,  known  in  part  as  the  Mis- 
teriosa  Bank,  which  rises  precipitously  on  its  southeast  bor- 
der from  a  depth  of  over  3,400  fathoms,  and  is  indicated  at 
the  surface  by  the  Cayman  Islands. 

The  Caribbean  and  Gulf  of  Mexico  region  has  great 
depressions  or  "  deeps  "  as  well  as  broad  banks  or  shoals. 
The  submarine  topography  is,  in  fact,  on  a  more  Titanic 
scale  than  in  any  other  known  region.  Brownson  Deep, 
some  50  miles  north  of  Porto  Rico,  has  a  depth  of  4,561 
fathoms  (27,366  feet),  and  the  bordering  slopes  of  the  de- 
pression in  certain  places,  and  for  long  distances,  have  an 
inclination  of  35  degrees.  Between  15  and  30  miles  south  of 
Porto  Rico  the  bottom  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  is  1.500 
fathoms  below  its  surface,  and  rapidly  descends  to  over 
2,400  fathoms.  Bartlett  Deep,  a  long,  narrow  depres- 
sion in  the  sea-floor,  intervening  in  its  eastern  portion 
between  Cuba  and  Jamaica,  has  a  depth  of  3,428  fathoms 
(20,568  feet)  measured  from  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Sigs- 
bee  Deep,  in  the  central  portion  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  a 
third  basin  of  similar  nature,  remarkable  for  the  great  extent 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       21 

of  its  nearly  level  floor,  which  is  from  2,035  to  2&7l  fathoms 
below  sea-level.  (On  Fig.  3  only  the  general  depths  of 
these  great  depressions  are  indicated.)  Coupled  with  the 
profound  depth  of  the  sea  in  the  West  Indian  region  are 
the  rugged  mountains  of  the  Great  Antilles  and  the  volcanic 
cones  of  the  Caribbees.  Some  of  the  elevations  of  the  land 
referred  to  are,  in  feet,  as  follows:  Porto  Rico,  3,609;  Ja- 
maica, 7.360;  Cuba,  8,600;  and  Santo  Domingo,  10,300. 
The  extreme  range  in  the  relief  of  the  surface  of  the  solid 
earth  ( lithosphere)  between  the  bottom  of  Brownson  Deep 
and  the  summit  of  Santo  Domingo  is  37,666  feet — the  hori- 
zontal distance  between  the  two  is  about  270  geographical 
miles.  No  mountain  on  the  earth  has  such  an  elevation 
above  sea-level.  The  islands  of  the  West  Indies  are  thus 
shown  to  be  the  summits  of  stupendous  mountains,  the 
greater  portions  of  which  are  submerged.  The  low-lying 
islands,  and  even  the  banks  which  can  be  discovered  only 
with  the  aid  of  the  sounding-line,  are  in  reality  the  tops  of 
wonderfully  steep  mountains  or  plateaus  some  20,000  feet 
in  height.  * 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  profiles  of  the  partially  or 
wholly  submerged  mountains  of  the  West  Indies  are,  as  a 
rule,  steeper  than  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  on  the  land 
with  which  they  may  reasonably  be  com] tared.  This  is  due 
in  part,  perhaps,  to  the  greater  density  of  the  medium  in 
which  they  stand,  the  sea-water  affording  a  greater  degree 
of  support  than  the  air.  but  the  main  reason  is  that  beneath 
a  few  hundred  feet  of  water  there  is  no  erosion  except  the 
exceedingly  slow  removal  of  matter  in  solution.  Could  the 
waters  of  the  sea  be  withdrawn  so  as  to  reveal  the  Carib- 
bean Mountains  in  all  of  their  stupendous  grandeur,  the 
vast,  smooth,  sweeping  surfaces  extending  from  the  hori- 
zontal lines  drawn  about  the  higher  summits  by  the  waves 
and  by  the  deposition  of  sediment  and  coral  growths,  down 
to  their  liases  would  be  unmarked  by  channels  and  ridge-  oi 
the  character  that  give  details  t<  1  the  type  1  if  mi  »untains  with 
which   \\  e  are  most   familiar. 

An  instructive  generalization  concerning  the  relief  oi 
the  Wesl    India  region,  suggested  by  Alexander  Agassiz 

3 


22  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  sustained  by  the  later  studies  of  R.  T.  Hill,  is  that  we 
there  find  topographic  forms  produced  by  movements  in 
the  earth's  crust  which  have  not  been  modified  by  erosion. 
The  great  elevations  rising  from  the  floors  of  the  "  deeps  '* 
are  upraised  blocks  of  the  earth's  crust  which  have  not 
been  beaten  by  rain,  shattered  by  frost,  or  trenched  by  rills, 
creeks,  or  rivers.  They  illustrate  the  character  of  the  rough 
blocks  of  rock  from  which  many  of  the  mountain  forms 
of  the  land  have  been  sculptured. 

This  sweeping  view,  which  it  seems  safe  to  accept  as  a 
generalized  outline  of  the  history  of  the  topography  of  the 
region  in  question,  needs  to  be  qualified,  as  there  are  known 
to  have  been  extensive  up  and  down  movements  through- 
out large  areas  in  that  portion  of  the  earth's  surface.  The 
mountains  on  Jamaica  are  scored  by  horizontal  lines  mark- 
ing former  sea-levels  up  to  a  height  of  2,000  feet,  and 
similar  and  still  higher  records  are  plainly  visible  on  several 
of  the  larger  West  India  islands.  This  evidence  shows 
that  the  present  land  over  a  wide  extent  of  the  Caribbean 
region  was  formerly  deeply  submerged.  More  than  this, 
the  rocks  forming  the  higher  portions  of  the  Greater  An- 
tilles are  largely  composed  of  more  or  less  consolidated 
ooze,  such  as  is  now  found  on  the  sea-floor  in  deep  water. 
This  line  of  evidence  shows  that  what  in  late  geological 
time  was  the  sea-floor  has  been  raised  between  20,000  and 
30,000  feet.  It  is  thus  known  that  both  upward  and  down- 
ward movements  of  great  vertical  and  great  horizontal 
extent  have  occurred  in  the  Caribbean  region.  'Whatever 
minor  changes  the  topography  of  the  now  submerged  sea- 
floor  may  have  suffered  owing  to  emergence,  the  general 
relief,  as  suggested  above,  seems  to  have  resulted  from 
movements  in  the  earth's  crust,  and  that  these  movements, 
in  certain  instances  at  least,  produced  faults — that  is,  breaks 
or  fissures — along  which  the  rocks  were  upraised  on  one  side 
or  depressed  on  the  other,  so  as  to  form  great  cliffs.  The 
precipitous  submarine  slope  forming  the  northwest  border 
of  Bartlett  Deep  may  reasonably  be  interpreted  as  a  great 
fault  scarp.  A  portion  of  this  escarpment  rises  above  the 
sea  and   forms  the  remarkably   straight   and   exceedingly 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       23 

rugged  south  coast  of  Cuba  in  the  region  of  Santiago.  In 
the  main  the  remarkable  submarine  topography  of  the  West 
India  region  presents  us  with  an  example  of  what  would 
have  been  the  leading  features  of  several  portions  of  the 
earth's  surface  which  are  now  land,  as,  for  example,  the 
Great  Basin  region  of  Utah,  Nevada,  etc.,  had  deformation 
eone  on  without  erosion. 


& 


MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  OCEAN  WATERS 

To  the  student  of  the  geography  of  a  continent  the 
climatic  and  other  influences  of  the  great  ocean  currents, 
as  well  as  the  more  tangible  results  produced  by  the  waves 
which  break  on  the  borders  of  the  land,  demand  extended 
and  painstaking  investigation.  The  most  that  we  can  hope 
to  do  at  present  in  this  connection  is  to  state  briefly  some 
of  the  more  important  influences  that  the  movements  of 
the  ocean  waters  have  on  the  climate  of  North  America 
and  on  the  topography  of  its  shores. 

Currents. — The  surface  waters  of  both  the  north  Atlan- 
tic and  the  north  Pacific,  as  is  the  case  with  all  broad  water 
bodies,  have  a  drift  and  in  places  flow  in  well-defined  cur- 
rents, mainly  on  account  of  the  friction  of  the  wind  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea.  aided  by  variations  in  the  density  of  the 
water  due  to  differences  in  temperature  and  salinity.  In 
each  ocean  there  is  a  great  swirl  or  eddy,  for  the  reason 
that  the  surface  drift  and  the  flow  of  the  deeper  currents 
carry  the  waters  about  in  a  rudely  circular  path,  parallel  in  a 
general  way  with  the  boundaries  of  the  respective  basins. 
The  direction  of  this  motion,  to  one  situated  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  either  basin,  is  from  left  to  right,  or  with  the 
movement-  of  the  hands  of  a  watch.  In  the  southern  por- 
tion of  each  basin  there  is  a  westward-flowing  equatorial 
current,  which  in  each  instance  is  deflected  northward  on 
approaching  the  bordering  land,  and  a-  it  continues  1-  still 
more  deflected  owing  to  the  influence  oi  the  earth  -  rota 
tion,  and  acquires  a  northeasl  trend;  on  reaching  the  eastern 
side  of  the  oceanic  basins,  the  currents  are  again  deflected, 

a  portion   of  the  one   in   the   Atlantic  and   all   of  the  One   111 


24  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  Pacific  being  turned  southward  so  as  to  complete  the 
circuit. 

In  the  southern  portion  of  the  north  Atlantic  the  sur- 
face drift  is  westward  at  a  rate  of  four  or  five  miles  a  day. 
The  waters,  forced  along  principally  by  the  trade-winds,  How 
through  the  numerous  passes  between  the  Lesser  Antilles 
and  enter  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  from  thence  are  carried 
through  the  Yucatan  channel  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
The  waters  are  piled  up,  as  it  were,  in  that  great  landlocked 
basin,  at  the  same  time  becoming  warmer,  and  receive  addi- 
tions of  fresh  water  from  rain  and  inflowing  streams.  Each 
of  these  causes  tends  to  decrease  the  density  of  the  water, 
while  evaporation  has  a  counterbalancing  influence.  The 
escape  for  the  waters,  both  salt  and  fresh,  which  enter  the 
Gulf,  is  by  evaporation  and  by  flowing  through  the  only 
notch  in  the  rim  of  the  Gulf  basin  which  is  not  in  the  path 
of  the  equatorial  current,  namely,  the  strait  separating  Flor- 
ida from  Cuba  and  the  Bahama  Islands.  These  outflowing 
waters  form  the  justly  celebrated  Gulf  Stream. 

Between  Florida  and  the  shoal  waters  on  the  Bahama 
Banks  the  Gulf  Stream  is  about  50  miles  wide,  approxi- 
mately 350  fathoms  deep,  and  flows  northward  at  the  rate 
of  from  four  to  five  miles  an  hour.  Its  temperature  is  about 
8o°  F.  It  is  estimated  that  this  great  river  in  the  ocean 
carries  90,000,000,000  tons  of  water  per  hour  past  a  given 
cross-section.  Its  course  is  northward  along  the  immedi- 
ate border  of  the  continental  shelf  until  it  arrives  opposite 
the  Carolina  coast,  and  thence  northeastward,  thus  giving 
it  a  constantly  increasing  distance  from  the  land.  To  the 
north  of  the  Bahamas  it  receives  as  a  tributary  the  portion 
of  the  equatorial  current,  perhaps  even  greater  in  volume 
than  the  true  Gulf  Stream,  which  is  deflected  northward 
by  the  West  India  Islands  and  their  associated  banks. 
Continuing  its  course,  it  is  deflected  still  more  towards  the 
northeast  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  earth's  rotation,  at 
the  same  time  expanding  and  losing  velocity  so  as  to  be- 
come a  surface  drift  rather  than  a  well-defined  current. 
Under  the  influence  of  the  prevailing  westerly  winds  of 
the    north    Atlantic,    the    waters    delivered    by    the    Gulf 


OROGRAPHICAL    FEATURES 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       25 

Stream  pass  the  vicinity  of  the  British  Islands  and  in  part 
enter  the  Greenland  Sea. 

The  transfer  of  the  vast  amount  of  warm  water  carried 
by  the  Gulf  Stream  far  to  the  north  is  counterbalanced  in 
part  by  a  southward-flowing-  cold  current  which  emerges 
from  Davis  Strait,  and  being  joined  by  another  cold  current 
from  the  eastward  of  Greenland,  continues  southward  under 
the  name  of  the  Labrador  current,  past  Newfoundland  and 
Nova  Scotia  to  the  Massachusetts  coast,  and  is  thought  to 
exert  an  influence  on  the  temperature  of  the  sea  even  as  far 
south  as  Cape  Hatteras.  While  the  Gulf  Stream  in  the 
northern  portion  of  its  course  curves  eastward  and  departs 
from  the  American  coast,  the  southward-flowing  Labrador 
current  is  turned  westward  and  follows  close  along  the 
border  of  the  land,  and  mainly  over  the  continental  shelf. 

The  chief  effect  of  the  cold  current  from  the  north  in 
proximity  to  the  coast  of  the  continent  is  to  bring  to  the 
adjacent  land  a  lower  mean  annual  temperature  and  espe- 
cially colder  and  more  stormy  winters  than  it  would  other- 
wise experience.  This  tendency  is  augmented  by  the  ice- 
bergs carried  southward  with  the  Labrador  current.  In  a 
similar  way,  the  northward-flowing  warm  current  gives 
Florida  and  the  Carolinas  a  subtropical  climate,  admits  of 
the  growth  of  reef-building  corals  about  the  Bermuda 
Islands,  and  carries  so  much  warmth  to  northwestern 
Europe  that  its  climate  is  milder  and  more  humid  than  one 
would  expect  from  its  geographical  position. 

The  currents  of  the  north  Pacific  are  analogous  to  those 
of  the  north  Atlantic,  but  simpler,  as  there  is  nothing  sim- 
ilar to  the  true  Gulf  Stream,  and  as  communication  with  the 
Arctic  Ocean  is  practically  closed,  there  is  no  cold  current 
flowing  southward  from  that  ocean;  but  the  conditions, 
so  far  as  they  influence  the  climate  of  North  America,  are 
reversed.  A  warm  current  flowing  northward  oft  the 
of  Japan,  and  hence  known  a-  the  Japan  current,  en 
the  Pacific,  .and  on  approaching  the  coast  of  Alaska  and 
British  Columbia  is  deflected  southward.  The  climate  of 
tin-  northwest  coast  is  thus  ameliorated,  the  prevailing 
erly  winds  are  warm  and  humid,  and  the  mean  animal 


26  NORTH    AMERICA 

precipitation  from  western  Alaska  to  Oregon  is  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  ioo  inches.  Under  the  influence  of  a 
mild  equitable  temperature  and  abundant  moisture,  the 
land  bordering  the  Pacific  from  southern  Alaska  to  north- 
ern California  is  clothed  with  the  most  magnificent  forests 
that  the  continent  affords.  The  marked  contrasts  in  cli- 
mate, vegetation,  and  the  conditions  that  influence  civili- 
zation between  the  two  sides  of  the  North  American  con- 
tinent, produced  by  the  cold  Labrador  current  on  the  east 
and  the  warm  Japan  current  on  the  west,  is  shown  in  a 
marked  way  by  the  sweep  of  the  lines  of  equal  mean 
annual  temperature  (isotherms)  represented  on  the  map 
forming  Plate  II,  and  again  by  the  distribution  of  forests, 
as  will  be  described  later.  It  is  instructive  to  note  that 
the  climate  of  Sitka,  in  north  latitude  570,  is  far  more 
temperate  and  equable  than  that  of  New  York  city,  lati- 
tude 400  45',  although  the  cool  summers  on  the  northwest 
coast  make  the  mean  annual  temperature  somewhat  lower 
than  on  the  coast  of  New  York,  or  even  of  New  England. 
The  influence  of  the  opposite  conditions  in  reference  to 
ocean  currents  experienced  by  the  eastern  and  western  bor- 
ders of  the  continent  are  even  more  marked  in  the  life  of  the 
adjacent  waters  than  in  the  vegetation  and  fauna  of  the  land 
itself.  The  plant  and  invertebrate  life  of  the  shoal  waters 
of  the  Pacific  coast,  consisting  largely  of  southern  species, 
is  exceedingly  rich  and  varied,  even  to  the  inlets  of  the 
Alaska  coast,  where  glaciers  come  down  to  the  sea;  while 
on  the  Atlantic  border,  northern  species  occur  on  the  New 
England  coast,  and  even  farther  south.  The  contrasts  in 
temperature  between  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
which  cover  the  submerged  border  of  the  continent  are  well 
shown  by  the  distribution  of  the  cod,  the  most  valuable  of 
all  fishes  to  man,  which,  as  is  well  known,  belongs  to  the 
northern  fauna  and  ranges  from  the  north  Atlantic  about 
the  arctic  coast  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Hemispheres, 
to  the  north  Pacific.  On  the  east  coast  of  America  this 
circumpolar  fish,  of  which  several  species  are  known,  is 
found  occasionally  as  far  south  as  Cape  Hatteras,  but  the 
most  southern  "  bank  "  on  which  it  is  extensivelv  taken  is 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    COXTIXEXT       27 

off  Cape  Cod,  in  latitude  420;  on  the  west  coast  it  travels 
perhaps  as  far  south  as  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but 
the  most  southern  locality  where  it  occurs  in  commercial 
quantities  is  off  the  Shumagin  Islands,  in  latitude  550.  The 
life  of  the  continental  shelf,  as  well  as  of  the  adjacent  land, 
thus  bears  testimony  to  the  vast  importance  to  North 
America  of  the  great  ocean  currents  washing  its  shores. 

Tides. — The  waters  of  the  ocean  are  subject  to  wave- 
like undulations,  caused  by  the  attraction  of  the  moon  and 
sun,  termed  the  tides.     Every  day,  at  the  average  interval 
of  twelve  hours  and  fifty-one  minutes,  the  "  tide  rises/'  and 
with  equal   regularity   intermediate  between   these  periods 
it  "  falls."     This  rise  and  fall  of  the  waters  along  the  coast, 
accompanied  frequently  by  strong  currents,  are  produced 
directly  by  the  arrival  in  the  shoal  water  of  a  pulsation  of  the 
ocean,  which  becomes  a  true  onward-moving  gravity  wave 
as  it  nears  the  land.     In  the  open  sea  the  amplitude  of  the 
tidal  undulations  is  but  two  or  three  feet,  and  their  rate  of 
travel  in  general  700  to  800  miles  per  hour.     On  reaching 
shoal  water,  however,  the  onward  movement  is  decreased 
by  friction  on  the  bottom,  the  waves  become  higher,  and 
when  they  meet  an  outward-flowing  bottom  current,  their 
bases  are  still  more  retarded  and  the  slope  of  their  fronts 
increases  until  the  water  falls  forward  and  breaks  into  foam. 
On  the  Atlantic  coast,  each  tidal  wave  readies  the  land 
broadside  on,  as  it  were  (Fig.  4).  and  at  the  outer  capes  high 
water  occurs  at  practically  the  same  time  from  Florida  to 
New  England,  but  its  farther  landward  progression  is  great- 
ly modified  by  the  shape  of  the  coast  and  the  depth  of  water 
in  the  canaries  and  other  indentations.     When  the  wave  as 
it  rushes  landward  enters  a  broad  water  body  through   a 
narrow  entrance,  as  the   Gulf  of   Mexico,   for  example,   it 
spreads,  and  as  the  impulse   is   transmitted   to   larger  and 
larger  volumes  of  water,  it  decreases  in  height.     (  In  a  crit- 
ical Study  the  tides  originating  in  the  Cult  itself  should  be 
considered.)     At   Galveston,  Texas,  the  mean   ranfee  be 
tween  high  and  low  tide  is  less  than  one  font.    When,  how- 
ever, an  estuary  with  a  broad  mouth  receives  a  tidal  wave 
from  the  ocean,  the  impulse  is  more  and  more  concentrated 


28 


NORTH    AMERICA 


and  the  wave  rises  higher.  At  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
the  difference  between  high  and  low  water  is  from  50  to  60 
feet.  For  the  reason  just  stated,  the  tidal  wave  is  generally 
hiefher  in  the  Atlantic  coast  estuaries  than  on  the  ocean 


Fig.  4. — Cotidal  lines.  A  diagrammatic  representation  of  the  advance  of 
tidal  waves  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.  Figures  refer  to  noon  and 
midnight.     After  R.  S.  Tarr. 

capes,  and  under  favourable  conditions  may  be  transmitted 
for  long  distances  up  the  rivers  emptying  into  such  estu- 
aries, and  may  be  felt  where  the  mean  elevation  of  the 
stream  is  several  feet  above  the  mean  level  of  the  sea  on  the 
neighbouring  open  coast.    Tidal  waves  pass  up  the  Hudson 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      29 

to  Troy,  a  distance  of  150  miles  from  the  Narrows,  where 
the  mean  range  is  2.3  feet.  In  St.  John  River,  New  Bruns- 
wick, the  tidal  impulse  is  felt  at  Frederickton,  70  miles 
from  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  at  an  elevation  of  14  feet  abo\  e 
its  surface.  In  the  St.  Lawrence  estuary  and  river  the  tidal 
waves  ascend  28$  miles  to  Three  Rivers,  a  few  miles  below 
Montreal,  where  the  mean  elevation  is  about  11  feet  and  the 
mean  range  of  the  tide  0.9  foot.  In  the  Columbia  the  range 
of  the  tide  is  about  6  inches  at  a  distance  of  140  miles  from 
the  ocean. 

In  the  north  Pacific  (Fig.  4)  the  tidal  waves  come  from 
the  south  and  expand  much  the  same  as  the  corresponding 
waves  do  in  the  north  Atlantic,  but  instead  of  striking  the 
coast  broadside  on,  sweep  along  the  shore  from  south  to 
north. 

There  are  two  localities  on  the  coast  of  North  America, 
one  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  other  at  the 
head  of  Cook's  Inlet,  Alaska,  where  the  tides  present  espe- 
cially interesting  features.  In  each  of  these  inlets  the  in- 
coming tidal  wave  meets  an  outward-flowing  current  which 
tends  to  hold  it  back.  The  incoming  waters  are  thus  piled 
up  until  sufficient  head  is  established  to  cause  them  to  ad- 
vance as  a  steep-fronted  wave  termed  a  bore,  which  curls 
over  and  breaks  in  a  long  line  of  foam  as  it  rushes  along. 
At  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  the  bore  travels  at  the 
rate  of  6  or  7  miles  an  hour,  and  has  a  height  of  from  4 
to  6  feet.  The  great  disturbance  produced  by  the  strong 
current  and  breaking  waves  causes  the  mud  of  the  bottom 
to  be  disturbed  and  the  waters  to  be  charged  with  sediment. 
Much  of  this  mud  is  deposited  during  the  interval  of  quiet 
water  at  high  tide,  and  as  the  outflow  is  not  so  impetuous 
as  the  inflow,  broad  mud-flats  are  formed.  At  certain  local- 
ities about  the  Bay  of  Fundy  artificial  dikes  have  been  made, 
which  admit  the  mud-charged  waters  at  high  tide,  and  re- 
tain them  until  much  of  their  freight  is  deposited,  in  this 
manner,  large  areas  of  rich  lands  have  been  secured. 

The  geographical  influences  of  the  tides  and  0!  the  cur 
rent-  produced  by  them  are  of  interesl  in  many  ways.      I" 
navigators  the}-  are  (if  special  importance.     Even  in  tins 


30  NORTH    AMERICA 

age  of  steam,  the  arrival  and  departure  of  vessels  from  har- 
bours is  regulated  so  as  to  take  advantage  of  the  incoming 
or  outgoing  tidal  currents.  Many  harbours  can  be  entered 
by  deep-draft  vessels  only  at  high  water,  for  the  reason  in 
general  that  sand-bars  are  frequently  formed  at  the  mouths 
of  tidal  estuaries.  One  of  the  most  marked  illustrations  of 
the  influence  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  on  navigation 
occurs  at  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  where  the  tide  flows 
in  and  out  of  St.  John  River  so  as  to  form  a  cascade  each 
way,  dependent  on  the  direction  of  the  current.  At  low 
water  the  level  of  the  river  is  from  n  to  15  feet  above  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  and  at  high  water  the  level  of  the  bay  is  from 
8  to  12  feet  above  that  of  the  river  when  not  affected  by  the 
tide.  There  are  four  periods  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  minutes 
each  during  each  twenty-four  hours  when  vessels  can  pass 
in  and  out  of  the  river's  mouth. 

In  the  Arctic  Ocean  the  tides  are  small.  At  Point  Bar- 
row, the  most  northern  locality  on  the  coast  of  Alaska,  the 
difference  between  high  and  low  water  is  but  6  or  7  inches. 
The  tide  comes  from  the  southward  and  westward,  and 
there  is  a  prevailing  current  setting  to  the  eastward.  At 
Herschel  Island,  near  where  the  east  boundary  of  Alaska 
reaches  the  Arctic  Ocean,  the  mean  range  of  the  tide  is 
but  1.8  foot.  At  Cape  Sheridan,  the  northeast  point  of 
Grinnell  Land,  north  latitude  820  25',  there  is  a  range  of 
2.6  feet  during  two  periods  each  month  when  the  tides 
are  highest,  and  but  1.2  foot  at  the  lowest  or  neap  tide 
periods. 

In  addition  to  the  weakness  of  the  tides  and  tidal  cur- 
rents along  the  arctic  coast,  there  is  an  absence  or  great 
diminution  of  the  influence  of  wave  and  currents,  owing  to 
the  prevalence  of  ice  on  the  sea.  Shore  erosion  is  there  at 
a  minimum  in  spite  of  the  abrasion  produced  by  the  ice- 
packs when  forced  landward  by  the  wind. 

Islands. — In  the  classification  of  islands  used  by  A.  R. 
Wallace  in  his  Island  Life  two  primary  divisions  are  recog- 
nised, namely,  continental  and  oceanic  islands. 

Continental  islands  are  land  masses  which  have  been 
separated  from  continents  and  are  rarely  far  removed  from 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      31 

their  borders,  and,  besides,  are  composed  of  rocks  similar  to 
those  of  the  neighbouring-  mainland  and  inhabited  by  ter- 
restrial animals  which  are  related  to  the  fauna  of  the  larger 
land  area.  Ancient  and  modern  continental  islands  have 
also  been  recognised,  their  age  being  indicated  by  the  de- 
gree of  similarity  between  their  faunas  and  the  fauna  of  the 
continent  with  which  they  were  formerly  connected.  Th<  ise 
of  ancient  origin  are  commonly  surrounded  by  deep  water, 
while  those  which  are  more  modern  usually  rise  from  con- 
tinental shelves,  the  channels  intervening  between  them  and 
the  mainland  being  less  than  100  fathoms  deep.  Oceanic 
islands  rise  from  deep  water,  are  either  volcanic  or  so  far  as 
their  emerged  portions  are  concerned  composed  of  coral 
rock,  and  are  without  warm-blooded  terrestrial  animals. 

About  the  borders  of  North  America  there  are  islands 
belonging  to  each  of  these  classes.  The  numerous  examples 
rising  from  the  continental  shelf  all  about  the  margin  of  the 
land,  but  in  the  Atlantic  most  numerous  from  New  York 
northward,  and  in  the  Pacific  from  the  Strait  of  Fuca 
northward,  are  plainly  recent  continental  islands.  The 
larger  of  the  West  Indies  and  the  group  of  small  islands  off 
the  California  coast  are  also  continental  islands,  but  show 
by  the  character  of  their  faunas  and  the  depth  of  the  water 
about  them  that  they  have  been  long  separated  from  the 
main  mass  of  the  continent.  Typical  examples  of  oceanic 
islands  are  furnished  by  Bermuda,  in  the  Atlantic,  and 
Guadalupe,  in  the  Pacific.  In  this  same  class,  but  less  re- 
mote from  the  mainland,  and  in  their  faunas  and  Moras 
showing  a  nearer  relationship  to  South  than  to  North 
America,  belong  the  Caribbees. 

TOPOGRAPHY    OF   THE    COAST 

The  generalized  coast-line  of  North  America  measures 
about  35.000  miles  in  extent,  and  presents  a  great  variety 
of  scenerv.  The  range  in  diversity  embraces  ;ill  classes  <»t 
coasl  topography  from  the  low,  sandy  mangrove-fringed 
border-  of  Florida  and  the  I  .nit"  of  Mexico,  to  the  magnifi- 
cent sea-cliffs  of  Labrador  and   British  Columbia  and  the 


32  NORTH    AMERICA 

marvellous  ice-walls  of  Greenland  and  Alaska  where  tide- 
water glaciers  enter  the  ocean. 

Like  nearly  all  the  features  of  the  earth's  surface,  this 
narrow  intricate  belt  where  the  sea  and  land  meet  is  con- 
stantly undergoing  changes.  The  principal  processes 
which  lead  to  alterations  in  the  coast-line  may  be  considered 
as  forming  three  groups:  First,  the  wearing  away  of  the 
land  through  the  action  of  waves  and  currents  and  the  depo- 
sition of  the  debris  thus  produced  so  as  to  make  additions 
to  the  borders  of  the  continent;  second,  the  upward  and 
downward  movements  of  the  land;  and  third,  the  changes 
produced  by  glaciers,  ice-flows,  and  icebergs. 

With  these  more  active  agencies  by  which  tlie  coast- 
line is  being  modified  may  be  included  chemical  solution 
and  deposition,  the  influence  of  plants  and  animals,  the 
weathering  of  the  margin  of  the  land,  etc.;  but  a  critical 
review  of  all  these  processes  is  impracticable  in  the  present 
treatise. 

Changes  in  the  Coast-Line  due  to  Waves  and  Currents. — 
The  waves  of  the  sea  beat  on  the  land  with  never-ceasing 
activity,  but  exert  the  greatest  force  during  storms.  The 
blow  which  a  great  surge  strikes  when  it  breaks  at  the  base 
of  a  cliff,  amounting  in  many  instances  to  3  or  more 
tons  to  the  square  foot,  tends  to  disrupt  the  rocks  both 
directly  by  its  impact  and  by  the  compression  of  air  and 
water  in  their  interstices.  The  greatest  work  of  the  break- 
ing waves  is  performed,  however,  with  the  aid  of  the  stones 
which  accumulate  on  the  beaches.  These  are  hurled 
against  the  land  by  the  force  of  the  landward-rushing  waters 
and  break  and  abrade  the  rocks  with  which  they  come  in 
contact.  The  friction  produced  by  the  impact  of  waves 
charged  with  sand,  pebbles,  and  boulders  against  the  land 
leads  to  its  removal  along  a  horizontal  belt  with  a  narrow 
vertical  range.  The  waves  of  the  sea,  in  fact,  act  like  a  hori- 
zontal saw,  the  edge  of  which  slowly  advances  landward.  As 
a  result  of  this  process  of  under-cutting,  highly  characteristic 
and  frequently  most  picturesque  forms  are  given  to  rocky 
coasts.  Whenever  the  sea  is  bordered  by  hard  rocks  stand- 
ing well  above  the  surface,  but  not  rising  too  precipitously 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT 


oo 


from  deep  water,  we  find  cliffs  facing  seaward.  At  the  base 
of  each  of  these  sea-cliffs  there  is  a  shelf  or  terrace  which 
records,  in  part  at  least,  the  advance  that  the  sea  has  made 
inland. 

A  cross  profile  of  a  wave-cut  seashore  (Fig.  5)  shows 
two  prominent  features,  namely,  a  sea-cliff  with  a  horizontal 
base,  and  a  terrace  sloping  seaward  from  the  foot  of  the 
cliff.  Of  these,  the  cliff  is  by  far  the  more  prominent  as  it 
stands  up  boldly  to  view,  while  the  terrace  is  in  large  part 
and  perhaps  wholly  submerged.  These  two  leading  char- 
acteristics in  the  topography  of  wave-cut  shores  are  shown 
in  the  following-  diagram: 


Biijh  Water 


Low  Water 


Fig.  5. — Ideal  profile  of  a  sea-cliff  and  current-built  terrace. 

The  water  carried  landward  by  each  wave  as  it  rushes 
up  the  sloping  surface  of  a  terrace  again  finds  its  way  sea- 
ward, either  wholly  or  in  part,  as  an  "undertow."  Much 
of  the  rock  debris  ground  fine  by  the  ceaseless  beating  of 
the  surf  is  separated  from  the  coarser  material,  thus  leaving 
the  latter  free  to  be  moved  by  succeeding  waves,  and  is 
carried  seaward  by  the  bottom  current  or  undertow.  Dur- 
ing storms  especially  there  is  usually  to  be  seen  a  belt  of 
discoloured  water  seaward  from  the  white  breakers  which 
margin  the  land.  The  liner  debris  carried  awa\  from  the 
shore  by  the  undertow  is  sooner  or  later  deposited,  and 
much  of  it  is  laid  down  on  the  terrace  bordering  the  land 
and  serves  to  build  ou1  its  seaward  margin.  A  normal 
sea-terrace  is  thus  in  part  the  result  oi  the  cutting  away 
of  the  land,  and  in  part  of  the  deposition  of  the  materia! 
removed.  The  sea  no1  only  cuts  away  the  land,  however, 
but  at  many  localities  makes  importanl  additions  to  it. 


34  NORTH    AMERICA 

Where  the  water  is  shallow  the  larger  waves  break  at 
a  distance  perhaps  of  several  miles  from  the  coast-line,  and 
build  up  long  narrow  bars,  usually  of  sand,  which  form  bar- 
riers, more  or  less  parallel  with  the  shore,  and  shelter  it 
from  further  encroachments  of  the  sea.  Again,  when  trie- 
wind  from  the  sea  blows  obliquely  to  the  coast,  currents 
are  established  in  the  water  which  sweep  along  the  loose 
material  on  the  beach  and  on  the  submerged  portion  of 
the  terrace  of  which  the  beach  is  a  visible  part,  and  cause 
it  to  travel  in  the  general  direction  of  the  prevailing  on- 
shore winds.  This  action  also  leads  to  the  building  of  bars 
more  or  less  parallel  with  the  coast  and  at  the  extremities 
of  capes,  particularly  where  the  shore  currents  enter  deeper 
water  and  give  origin  to  spits  of  various  shapes,  which  are 
frequently  curved  towards  the  land  and  at  their  extremi- 
ties become  hooks  and  loops. 

There  are  thus  two  important  processes,  one  destruc- 
tive and  the  other  constructive,  by  which  the  sea  is  con- 
tinually modifying  the  border  of  the  land. 

When  once  the  underlying  principles  on  which  depend 
the  characteristics  of  coastal  topography  are  suggested,  any 
observant  person  can  apply  them  for  himself  and  thus  be 
able  to  read  the  history  as  well  as  admire  the  beauties  of 
seacoast  scenery.  It  is  not  necessary,  therefore,  to  attempt 
to  present  a  detailed  account  of  the  coasts  of  North  America 
from  a  purely  geographical  point  of  view;  there  are  certain 
results  of  the  processes  just  referred  to,  however,  which 
are  of  wide-reaching  economic,  and  especially  of  com- 
mercial interest. 

From  Central  America  northward  to  Cape  Cod  the 
rocks  bordering  the  sea  are  soft  or  easily  soluble,  and  the 
adjacent  land  of  low  relief.  Throughout  this  section  the 
work  of  the  sea  is  mostly  constructive,  and  the  margin  of 
the  land  is  sheltered  by  sand-bars  from  the  attack  of  waves 
and  currents.  Where  the  waves  of  the  open  ocean  do  reach 
the  land,  as  on  the  coast  of  New  Jersey,  the  sea-cliffs  are 
low  and  the  topography  of  a  mild  type.  Very  generally, 
as  along  the  coast  of  Mexico  and  Texas,  and  from  Florida 
to  Long  Island,  there  are  long  narrow  bars  adjacent  to 


'V 


ft) 


Cape  Hatteras 


% 


V 


V 


»C»L|    ','      ■' 


Fie.  6. — A  portion  of  the  Atlantic   coast  oi  the  Unjted  Stat 


36 


NORTH    AMERICA 


the  shore,  with  lagoons  intervening  between  them  and  the 
mainland.  These  features  are  well  illustrated  on  the  accom- 
panying map  (Fig.  6)  of  a  portion  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
where  long  narrow  bars,  sometimes  forming  skeleton  capes, 
are  a  characteristic  feature.  On  the  middle  Atlantic  coast 
of  the  United  States  the  prevailing  winds  blow  southward 
and  there  is  a  general  southward  flow  of  the  shore  currents, 
which  carry  with  them  the  sand  on  the  beaches  and  bars. 
An  interesting  fact  in  this  connection,  pointed  out  by  N. 
S.  Shaler,  is  that  although  the  sands  are  continually  be- 
ing moved  they  are  not  worn  out.  After  the  sand-grains 
have  been  reduced  to  a  certain  size  they  retain  films  of 
water  which  separate  them  one  from  another,  and  act  as 
cushions  which  prevent  the  grains  from  coming  in  con- 
tact, thus  greatly  retarding  further  comminution.  But  for 
the  protection  thus  afforded  the  sand-bars  would  be  re- 
moved and  the  border  of  the  land  exposed  to  the  attack 
of  the  waves  and  cut  away;  whereas  under  existing  condi- 
tions lagoons  are  formed,  which  in  many  instances  are  util- 
ized as  harbours  or  are  filled  by  wind-blown  sand,  the  sedi- 
ment brought  by  streams, 
plant  growths,  etc.,  and  valu- 
able additions  are  made  to 
the  continent. 

The  sand-bars  just  re- 
ferred to  frequently  cross  the 
mouths  of  rivers,  and  in  such 
instances  a  struggle  ensues 
between  the  currents  moving 
along  the  shore  and  the  out- 
flowing river-waters  aided  by 
the  currents  produced  by  the 
tides.  This  conflict  leads  to 
the  formation  of  sand  banks 
and  bars,  generally  sub- 
merged, across  the  entrances 
of  bays  and  inlets  and  to  the 
building  of  sand-spits  from  the  seaward  capes.  A  typical 
instance  is  furnished  at  the  entrance  of  Mobile  Bay  (Fig.  7), 


SCALE    OF 


Fig.  7.— Mobile  Bay. 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT       37 


where  a  spit  from  each  side  has  been  built  by  shore  cur- 
rents so  as  to  greatly  contract  the  tideway  between.  Sim- 
ilar features  are  presented  by  Sandy  Hook  and  Coney 
Island,  each  of  which  has  been  built  of  sand  deposited  by 
shore  currents  at  the  seaward  entrance  of  the  lower  New 


o      Vi 


SCALE   OF  MILES 


Fig.  8. — Cape  Cod,  Massachusetts. 

York  Bay.  Another  illustration  of  this  same  general  char- 
acter is  furnished  by  the  curved  extremity  of  Cape  Cod 
(Fig.  8),  which  is  a  sand-spit  of  large  size  with  a  hooked 
extremity.  Spits  of  this  nature  are  common  on  our  coasts, 
and  in  many  instances  themselves  form  harbours,  as  at 
Coney  Island  and  near  the  extremity  of  Cape  Cod.  Man) 
other  similar  examples  of  the  importance  of  lagoons,  sand- 
liar-,  spits,  etc.,  to  shipping,  which  occur,  especially  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  State-,  may  be  studied  to 
advantage  on  the  admirable  charts  of  the  United  States 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey. 

4 


2,S  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  sand-bars,  spits,  and  other  similar  structures  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  are  also  of  strategic  importance,  for  the 
reason  that  they  afford  advantageous  sites  for  fortifica- 
tions, as  is  illustrated  by  the  strong  forts  at  Sandy  Hook 
which  guard  the  entrance  of  New  York  Bay.  These  sea- 
built  foundations  are  also  utilized  in  a  large  number  of 
localities  for  lighthouses.  The  waterways  shut  off  from 
the  sea  by  off-shore  bars  in  some  instances  permit  of  the 
passage  of  vessels  from  one  harbour  to  another.  In  this 
connection  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  an  important  sys- 
tem of  canals  is  under  consideration  for  making  a  continu- 
ous waterway  for  deep-draft  vessels,  some  700  miles  long, 
which  will  connect  the  estuaries  and  lagoons  from  New 
York  to  the  Carolinas. 

While  the  islands  of  sand  referred  to  present  many  condi- 
tions favourable  to  commerce,  fisheries,  and  other  indus- 
tries, their  apparent  durability  is  deceptive,  and  in  some 
instances  faith  in  their  permanence  has  led  to  disastrous  re- 
sults. They  owe  their  existence  to  the  action  of  waves  and 
currents,  and  unless  blown  sand  is  heaped  upon  them  are 
raised  but  a  few  feet  above  mean  sea-level,  and  are  liable 
to  inundation  if  a  high  tide  is  accompanied  by  an  on-shore 
gale.  A  sad  illustration  of  this  plain  conclusion  is  furnished 
by  the  disaster  that  overwhelmed  the  city  of  Galveston  on 
the  night  of  September  8,  1900,  during  which  some  3,000 
people  perished  and  $20,000,000  to  $30,000,000  worth 
of  property  was  destroyed.  This  great  loss  was  in  large 
part  due  to  the  fact  that  the  city  was  inundated  by  the  ad- 
vance over  its  site  of  the  storm-driven  waters  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  island  on  which  Galveston  stands  (Fig.  9) 
was  built  by  the  waters  of  the  Gulf,  and  during  the  hurricane 
referred  to  they  again  claimed  their  own. 

Northward  of  Cape  Cod,  the  rocks  adjacent  to  the 
ocean  are  mostly  hard  and  resistant,  consisting  largely  of 
schist,  gneiss, granite, trap, etc., which  when  undercut  by  the 
waves  stand  as  bold  cliffs  and  headlands.  This  portion  of 
the  continental  border  abounds  in  picturesque  scenery  and 
is  abundantly  supplied  with  fine  harbours  and  well-sheltered 
havens  in  which  boats  may  take  refuge.     Typical  portions 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      39 

of  this  rugged  coast  are  furnished  by  the  magnificent  sea- 
cliffs  of  Mount  Desert  and  Grand  Manan  islands,  the  bold 
shores  of  Newfoundland  and  Labrador,  and  the  precipitous 
border  of  Greenland.  The  scenery  throughout  nearly  all 
of  this  vast  extent  of  wave  and  storm  beaten  rocks  is  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  mild  and  generally  monotonous 


10    SO    30     VJ     M 


Fig.  9. — Coast  of  Texas. 


sand-built  shores  to  the  south  of  Cape  Cod.  Between  the 
angular  headlands  and  rugged  capes  at  the  north,  with  their 
white  girdles  of  surf,  there  are  frequently  curved  beaches 
and  numerous  spits  and  bars  of  yellow  sand  which  connect 
the  salients  of  the  shore  or  extend  from  them  so  as  to 
furnish  safe  anchorages. 

Oil  the  arctic  coast  of  North  America  the  action  of  the 
and  currents  on  the  land  is  greatly  retarded  by  ice. 


40  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  the  tides  are  small,  but  to  what  extent  these  conditions 
unfavourable  to  the  work  of  the  sea  are  counterbalanced  by 
the  abrasion  performed  by  ice-floes  is  unknown.  The 
northern  border  of  Alaska,  as  well  as  the  shore  of  Bering 
Sea,  is  mostly  low  and  the  rocks  soft,  although  certain  of 
the  sea-capes  are  bold  and  are  evidently  composed  of  resistant 
material. 

The  Aleutian  Islands  present  a  peculiar  exception  to  the 
general  coast  topography  of  the  rest  of  the  continent.  Al- 
though this  region  has  not  been  studied  in  detail,  it  seems 
to  furnish  an  example  of  a  rugged  mountain  range  that  has 
been  partially  submerged  at  a  comparatively  recent  date. 
The  rocks  in  many  places  descend  precipitously  into  deep 
water,  leaving  no  room  for  the  formation  of  beaches,  and 
hence  the  waves,  to  a  great  extent,  are  without  tools  with 
which  to  cut  away  the  land.  At  the  heads  of  the  many  bays 
and  inlets,  however,  one  finds  beautiful  sand-beaches  with 
gracefully  curving  lines,  in  striking  contrast  to  the  dark, 
rugged  cliffs  bordering  their  seaward  extensions. 

The  southern  and  southeastern  borders  of  Alaska  are 
exceedingly  bold,  and  present  some  of  the  most  sublime 
coast  scenery  to  be  found  in  the  world,  but  to  the  geographer 
the  greatest  interest  of  this  portion  of  the  continental 
border,  as  is  true  also  of  the  entire  Pacific  coast  of  North 
America,  centres  in  its  relation  to  up  and  down  movements 
of  the  land. 

Changes  in  the  Coast-Line  due  to  Oscillation  of  the  Land. — 
Land  areas  are  exposed  to  the  erosive  action  of  wind.  rain, 
streams,  etc.,  and  are  sculptured  by  these  agencies  into 
valleys,  canons,  peaks,  ridges,  and  other  familiar  topo- 
graphic forms.  The  various  processes  by  which  land  areas 
are  modified  lead  in  general  to  a  roughening  of  the  sur- 
face. As  an  extreme  illustration,  a  high  plateau  becomes 
dissected  by  streams  so  as  to  form  an  intricate  system  of 
rugged  mountain  ridges  and  peaks,  with  deep,  steep-sided 
valleys  between.  The  degree  of  this  roughening  depends 
principally  on  the  elevation  of  the  land,  together  with  con- 
trasts in  the  resistance  of  the  rocks  due  mainly  to  varia- 
tion in  hardness,  climatic  conditions,  etc.,  but  in  general 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      41 

one  may  say  the  higher  the  land  is  raised  above  the  sea 
the  more  rugged  will  be  its  topography  as  the  process  of 
wearing  away  progresses.  It  is  to  be  remembered  in  this 
connection,  however,  that  land  areas  pass  through  a  some- 
what definite  series  of  changes,  from  topographic  youth  to 
topographic  old  age,  each  stage  being  accompanied  by 
changes  in  the  relief.  It  is  during  topographic  maturity 
that  the  greatest  roughness  of  the  surface  of  a  land  area 
is  produced. 

Land  areas  are  continually  wasting  away,  owing  espe- 
cially to  the  attacks  of  the  streams,  and  the  material  removed 
is  deposited  in  the  sea.  The  debris  brought  from  the  con- 
tinents by  streams  is  laid  down  in  shallow  water — about  the 
shores  of  North  America  almost  entirely  on  the  surface  of 
the  continental  shelf — and  in  this  region  of  deposition  the 
hollows  are  filled  and  a  generally  smooth  surface  given  to 
the  sea-floor. 

The  topography  of  the  land,  for  the  reason  stated  above, 
is  nearly  everywhere  uneven;  while  the  topography  of  the 
sea-floor  is  characterized  by  uniformity.  We  can  easily 
predict,  therefore,  the  general  character  of  the  changes  in  a 
coast  which  would  result  from  either  a  subsidence  of  the 
land,  thus  allowing  the  sea  to  encroach  upon  it,  or  of  an 
elevation,  which  would  expose  a  portion  of  the  sea-bottom, 
thereby  increasing  the  area  of  the  land.  A  subsidence  of 
the  land  adjacent  to  the  sea  permits  an  extension  of  the 
waters  landward;  the  sea  will  enter  the  valleys  so  as  to  form 
estuaries,  bays,  straits,  etc.,  while  the  high  land  between 
the  partially  water-filled  depressions  will  rise  above  the 
water-level  and  appear  as  peninsulas,  capes,  and.  islands.  \ 
bold,  deeply  sculptured  coasl  when  depressed  will  give 
origin  to  an  intricate,  and  what  may  be  termed  a  ragged 
shore-line;  while  a  lower  region  crossed  by  large  river- 
valleys  w<»nld  be  changed  to  a  system  of  broad  estuaries. 

An  upward  movement  in  the  earth's  crusl  along  the 
ocean's  shore  would  expose  a  portion  of  the  sea  floor  and 
add  a  strip  of  generally  level  country  to  the  previous  land 
area.  The  boundary  between  the  old  and  new  topograph) 
in  such  an  instance  would  be  the  upraised  coast  line  with 


42  NORTH    AMERICA 

its  sea-cliffs,  wave-cut  caves,  terraces,  beaches,  and  other 
characteristic  features  of  coast  topography. 

There  are  thus  two  strongly  contrasted  types  of  coast 
scenery,  produced  by  oscillations  of  the  earth's  crust  where 
ocean  and  continents  meet.  In  each  class  there  is  a  wide 
range  in  details,  which  vary  in  harmony  with  the  amount 
the  land  rises  or  falls  in  reference  to  sea-level. 

When  one  has  these  general  laws  in  mind  a  map  of  the 
coast-line  of  North  America  acquires  great  significance. 

From  about  the  latitude  of  New  York  southward  to 
Central  America  many  comparatively  small  oscillations  of 
the  land  have  occurred  in  recent  geological  time,  and  what 
was  formerly  a  portion  of  the  continental  shelf  is  now  ex- 
posed and  forms  a  coastal  plain.  This  plain,  in  general  from 
50  to  100  miles  broad,  slopes  gently  seaward,  and  its  contin- 
uation under  the  sea  forms  the  present  continental  shelf 
(Fig.  2).  Evidently  a  slight  up  or  down  movement  or  a 
gentle  tilting  of  this  partially  submerged  plain  in  an  east 
and  west  direction  would  cause  a  marked  advance  or  reces- 
sion of  the  sea.  Each  time  the  sea  advanced  the  country 
submerged  would  be  smoothed  over  by  the  action  of  the 
waves  and  currents  and  a  sheet  of  sediment  laid  down  upon 
it;  and  each  time  the  sea  receded  the  emerged  land  would 
be  trenched  by  the  rivers  flowing  across  it.  The  records 
show  that  many  such  changes  have  occurred. 

The  Gulf  border  of  Mexico  and  Texas,  composed  of  soft 
marine  sediments,  forms  a  gently  sloping  plain  bordered  on 
the  west  by  a  roughened  upland,  and  illustrates  the  general 
feature  of  a  recently  emerged  coastal  plain  (Fig.  9).  The 
same  is  true  also  of  the  entire  coast  from  Texas  to  New 
York,  but  it  happens  that  a  recent  movement  through  this 
region  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  allow  the  sea  to  encroach 
on  the  land,  and  the  previously  excavated  stream  valleys  are 
now,  in  part,  occupied  by  the  sea.  This  feature  is  most 
marked  from  the  Carolinas  to  New  York  (Fig.  6),  where 
there  are  several  great  estuaries  and  drowned  river-valleys 
which  extend  far  into  the  land.  The  best  examples  are 
Albemarle  Sound  and  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Bays. 
The  James  River  channel  is  submerged  as  far  as  Richmond, 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      43 

the  Potomac  to  Washington,  the  Susquehanna  to  Harris- 
burg,  the  Delaware  to  Trenton,  and  the  Hudson  to  Troy. 
These  are  typical  illustrations  of  what  geographers  term 
drowned  river-valleys.  They  are  evidence  that  the  land 
formerly  stood  higher  than  now,  was  trenched  by  the  rivers 
that  flowed  across  it,  and  was  then  depressed  or  tilted  so  as 
to  allow  the  sea  to  encroach  upon  it.  The  importance  of 
these  events  in  the  settlement  of  North  America  by  Euro- 
peans and  on  the  subsequent  development  of  commerce, 
manufactures,  the  location  of  cities,  etc.,  needs  only  to  be 
suggested  to  permit  the  reader  to  fill  in  the  details  for 
himself. 

On  the  Gulf  coast  and  about  Florida  the  later  move- 
ments of  the  land  have  been  less  than  in  the  region  from 
Albemarle  Sound  to  New  York,  and  estuaries  are  there 
absent,  with  the  somewhat  marked  exception  of  Mobile 
Bay.  Certain  secondary  conditions  need  to  be  introduced 
here,  but  space  will  not  permit  of  more  than  a  brief  pres- 
entation of  them.  Not  only  have  the  recent  movements 
of  the  land  been  less  about  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
than  in  the  middle  Atlantic  region  of  the  United  States,  but 
the  rivers  at  the  south  are  in  general  smaller  and  less  swift 
than  those  farther  north,  and  hence  are  less  able  to  excavate 
broad  valleys.  The  Southern  rivers,  such  as  the  Alabama. 
Mississippi,  Rio  Grande,  etc.,  are  silt-laden  and  tend  to  fill 
their  estuaries,  while  the  weaker  streams  are  unable  to 
resist  the  encroachments  of  sand  bars  and  spits  built  by 
shore  currents,  and  their  mouths  have  been  practically 
closed.  The  coast  of  Texas  gives  evidence  of  slight  mod- 
ern subsidence,  but  the  small  estuaries  formed  have,  for 
the  most  part,  been  separated  from  the  Gulf  by  sand-bars. 

Northward  of  the  middle  Atlantic  region  the  recent 
oscillation-  of  the  land  continued  to  increase  and  reached 
a  maximum  about  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  <  >cean;  on  the 
Pacific  coast  also  there  is  similar  evidence  of  an  increase  in 
the  recent  earth  movements  from  Lhe  south  northward. 

In  an  outline  sketch  of  ihc  presenl  coastal  topograph) 
of  the  continent  we  can  generalize,  and  saj  thai  the  whole 
continent  during  the  lair  Tertiary,  erlacial,  and  recent  times 


44  NORTH    AMERICA 

has  swayed  up  and  down  about  a  hinge-line  situated  in  the 
region  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  movements,  although 
not  uniform,  have  increased  in  amount  from  the  south 
northward.  Let  us  glance  at  the  evidence  on  which  this 
broad  statement,  involving  the  up  and  down  surging  of  a 
vast  continent,  is  based. 

The  Hudson,  as  stated  above,  is  a  drowned  river  as  far 
as  Trov,  a  distance  from  the  present  land  margin  of  160 
miles.  In  the  next  great  river  to  the  northward,  the  St. 
Lawrence,  the  tide  rises  and  falls  nearly  up  to  Montreal,  a 
distance  of  about  800  miles  from  the  general  shore-line. 
Still  farther  north  are  Hudson  Strait  and  Hudson  Bay, 
which,  although  but  imperfectly  explored,  seem  to  be  an 
example  not  only  of  the  drowning  of  a  river-valley,  but  of 
the  largest  part  of  a  river-basin.  The  geography  of  the 
arctic  archipelago  fringing  the  north  shore  of  the  conti- 
nent also  suggests  that  a  strongly  stream-cut  plateau  has 
there  been  deeply  submerged. 

In  addition  to  the  drowned  river-valleys  and  ragged 
coasts  which  record  a  subsidence  of  the  land,  there  are 
raised  terraces  and  beaches  which  begin  at  the  south  near 
New  York  and  increase  in  elevation  above  the  present  sea- 
level,  when  followed  northward,  all  the  way  to  the  arctic 
region,  and  have  in  the  far  north  an  altitude  of  about  1,200 
feet.  These  old  beaches  and  terraces  show  that  the  land  was- 
formerly  depressed  and  has  since  risen;  but,  as  shown 
above,  has  not  regained  the  elevation  it  had  previous  to 
the  glacial  epoch. 

The  marked  differences  in  the  geography  of  the  coast 
from  New  York  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  from 
the  same  locality  southward  to  Central  America,  are  due 
primarily  to  the  fact  that  the  oscillations  of  the  land 
have  been  such  that  at  the  north  the  continental  shelf  is  en- 
tirely submerged  and  the  sea  has  encroached  on  a  rough 
land;  while  at  the  south  the  recent  oscillations  have  been 
less  and  a  broad  margin  of  the  continental  shelf  is  exposed 
and  forms  the  coastal  plain. 

At  the  north,  we  find  innumerable  islands,  bold,  rocky 
shores  with  many  capes  and  headlands,  separated  by  deep 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      45 


inlets,  sounds,  straits,  bays,  etc.,  or,  in  brief,  a  ragged  coast 
such  as  finds  typical  illustration  on  the  shores  of  Maine 
(Fig.  10),  while  at  the  south  (Fig.  6)  the  shores  are  low, 
sandy,  remarkably  uniform  in  trend,  and  without  islands, 
excepting  such  as  are  built  by  the  waves  and  currents. 


0  12  3         4 


Fig.  io. — A  portion  of  the  coast  of  Maine. 

The  West  India  Islands  will,  no  doubt,  be  recalled  by  the 
reader,  but  their  history  is  again  different.  Intermediate 
between  the  land  that  has  experienced  great  oscillation  at 
the  north  and  the  region  of  less  energetic  movements  at 
the  south  is  the  series  of  large  estuaries  mentioned  above, 
in  the  narrower  portions  of  the  coastal  plain. 

The  northern  and  western  coasts  of  Alaska  are  mostly 
low.  and  correspond  in  a  general  way  with  the  coastal  plan 
of  the  Carolina  region.  The  last  well-marked  movement 
of  the  land  in  that  region  has  been  in  the  direction  <  it'  an  ele- 
vation, and  we  find  low  shores,  with  but  few  harbours, 
similar  in  many  ways  to  the  coast  of  Texas. 

It  is  probably  true,  as  already  stated,  thai  the  Aleutian 
Islands,  although  in  part  the  result  of  recent  volcanic 
activity,  owe  their  peculiar  and  exceptional  characteristics 
to  the  partial  subsidence  of  a  deeply  sculptured  mountain 
range.      On    the   south    coasl    of    Alaska,    in    the    region    of 


46  NORTH    AMERICA 

Mount  St.  Elias  and  Mount  Fainveather,  a  recent  and  ex- 
tensive elevation  has  occurred,  which,  however,  did  not 
bring'  the  bottom  of  the  adjacent  portion  of  the  ocean 
above  the  sea-level.  This  apparent  anomaly  seems  to  be 
due  to  an  uprising  of  the  rocks  along  the  north  side  of 
a  break,  or  belt  of  branching  fractures,  which  closely  ap- 
proximates to  the  coast-line  and  has  determined  the  posi- 
tion of  the  continental  border  in  that  region.  The  facts, 
so  far  as  known,  appear  to  show  that  we  have  here  what 
geologists  term  a  fault,  the  north  or  landward  side  of  which 
has  been  raised  at  least  5,000  feet  in  very  modern  times, 
but,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  without  disturbing  the  seaward 
border  of  the  break.  The  coast  between  Mount  Fainveather 
and  Mount  St.  Elias  is  by  far  the  boldest,  and  from  a  scenic 
point  of  view  the  most  impressive,  portion  of  the  entire 
shore-line  of  North  America.  The  mountains  are  young 
and  among  the  highest  on  the  continent.  They  rise  precip- 
itously from  the  margin  of  the  sea,  and  are  sheathed  in  snow 
and  ice  from  base  to  summit  throughout  the  year. 

The  margin  of  the  continent  southward  from  Mount 
Fainveather  to  the  Columbia  River,  a  distance  in  a  straight 
line  of  about  1,200  miles,  furnishes  some  of  the  best  illus- 
trations of  the  changes  in  coastal  geography  due  to  sub- 
sidence that  our  continent  affords  (Fig.  11).  This  wonder- 
fullv  irregular  coast  is  fringed  with  a  belt  of  mountainous 
islands  from  50  to  100  or  more  miles  broad.  The  inlets 
between  the  bold  capes  and  the  straits  separating  the 
numerous  islands  are  deep.  The  rugged,  forest-clothed 
slopes  with  precipitous,  and  in  many  instances  nearly  ver- 
tical walls,  descend  into  water  that  is  frequently  from  50  to 
over  200  fathoms  deep.  In  brief,  a  deeply  dissected  moun- 
tain range  more  than  1,000  miles  in  length  has  there  been 
depressed  at  least  2.000  feet  below  its  former  altitude,  thus 
allowing  the  sea  to  flood  its  deep,  picturesque  valleys. 

Puget  Sound,  with  its  numerous  and  frequently  narrow 
arms  ( Fig.  23),  is  the  southward  extension  of  the  partially 
inundated  country  considered  above.  To  the  west  of  this 
magnificent  sound  rise  the  Olympic  Mountains,  which 
barely  escape  being  an  island  at  the  present  stage  of  the 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    COXTIXEXT      47 


swaying  of  the  land. 
On  the  west,  as  on  the 
east  border  of  the  con- 
tinent, there  are 
drowned  river-valleys, 
such  as  the  Stikine, 
Frazer,  Columbia,  and 
Sacramento.  It  is  not 
to  be  understood,  how- 
ever, that  the  entire 
Pacific  coast  region 
has  been  raised  or  de- 
pressed as  a  unit. 
There  have  been  differ- 
ential movements  in 
some  of  its  parts,  but 
these  are  not  as  yet 
well  known.  In  south- 
ern California,  for  ex- 
ample, raised  beaches 
and  a  narrow  coastal 
plain  about  Los  An- 
geles give  evidence  of 
a  modern  rise  of  the 
land. 

In  reference  to  the 
broad  generalization 
that  the  continental 
mass  of  Xorth  America 
has  undergone  up  and 
d  o  w  n  m  o  vements, 
greatest  at  the  north 
and  decreasing  south- 
ward, as  if  moving  on  a 
hinge-line  running  easl 
and  west  in  the  region 
of  the  <  rulf  of  Mexic<  >, 
it  is  of  interest  to  n<  >te 
that  the  ragged  coasts 


t-TT? 


* 


■-■  k  & 

■  (Mr 

\  hi 

J  b 


■  *,  ' 


»CAlf    Of    MIL£» 


o  6  iu     n      >> 

Fig    ii. 
i  soutbeastei  n  Alaska. 


48  •  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  Maine,  Nova  Scotia,  Newfoundland  and  Labrador,  due 
to  the  partial  submergence  of  a  rugged  land,  lie  in  the  same 
latitudes  as  the  equally  ragged  coast  of  Washington,  British 
Columbia,  and  Alaska.  This  is  more  than  a  coincidence. 
The  rocks  on  the  two  coasts  are  similar,  being  for  the  most 
part  resistant  crystalline  schists,  gneisses,  granites,  etc..  and 
in  each  instance  stood  high  above  the  sea  for  a  long  period 
during  which  they  were  deeply  trenched  by  streams  and  by 
great  glaciers,  and  then  at  about  the  same  time,  as  nearly 
as  can  be  judged,  each  region  was  depressed  so  as  to  allow 
the  sea  to  encroach  upon  it. 

While  a  deeply  sculptured  land  when  partially  sub- 
merged gives  origin  to  a  ragged  coast,  a  region  of  similar 
elevation,  but  not  cut  by  streams  or  other  agencies  so  as 
to  have  deep  valleys,  when  subsidence  occurs  produces  a 
bold,  harbourless  shore  without  islands.  The  striking  con- 
trast between  the  deeply  indented  border  of  the  conti- 
nent, with  its  broad  fringe  of  islands,  from  Mount  Fair- 
weather  southward  to  Mount  Olympus,  and  the  remarkably 
uniform  although  bold  coast-line  from  Mount  Olympus 
southward  to  Mexico,  and  indeed  nearly  to  Cape  Horn, 
has  much  significance  in  this  connection. 

The  mountains  bordering  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States  are  among  the  younger  on  the  continent. 
These  coast  ranges,  largely  on  account  of  their  youth,  have 
not  been  deeply  sculptured,  but  rise  boldly  from  the  ocean's 
shore  throughout  nearly  the  entire  distance  from  the  Strait 
of  Fuca  to  the  end  of -the  peninsula  of  Lower  California. 
The  mountains  of  Central  America,  although  but  little 
known,  are  of  comparatively  recent  date,  but  differ  from  the 
coast  ranges  in  being  more  largely  built  of  young  volcanic 
rocks.  Both  the  coast  ranges  and  the  mountains  of  Central 
America  are  much  less  deeply  sculptured  than  the  moun- 
tains bordering  the  Pacific  to  the  north  of  Puget  Sound, 
and  a  subsidence  along  this  shore  would  produce  but 
moderate  changes  in  the  coast-line.  In  this  great  extent 
of  coast,  measuring  nearly  5,000  miles,  there  are  but  few 
harbours;  in  the  portion  belonging  to  the  United  States  the 
generally  bold  coast-line  is  broken  but  in  two  places,  one 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      49 

where  the  Columbia  reaches  the  sea,  and  the  other  where 
the  Sacramento  finds  an  outlet  through  the  portions  of  its 
drowned  valley  known  as  the  Golden  Gate. 

The  Bay  of  San  Francisco  owes  its  origin  to  a  subsi- 
dence of  the  land  which  has  admitted  the  sea  into  the  val- 
ley of  the  Sacramento,  but  this  valley,  which,  uniting  with 
the  one  at  the  south  drained  by  the  San  Joaquin,  forms  the 
Great  Valley  of  California,  is  not  due  to  stream  erosion,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  drowned  valley  of  the  Hudson  or  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  but  to  the  upraising  of  the  mountains  border- 
ing it.  During  a  former  time  of  greater  subsidence  than 
at  present  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  was  larger  than  now, 
and  has  been  contracted  both  by  the  deposition  of  sediment 
and  by  a  partial  re-elevation  of  the  land.  The  exceptional 
character  of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  and  its  marked  excel- 
lence as  a  harbour  give  to  the  city  on  its  shore  promises 
of  marvellous  development. 

The  Gulf  of  California  is  due,  in  a  general  view,  to  what 
may  be  considered  as  a  departure  of  the  Coast  mountains 
away  from  the  general  trend  of  the  continental  border.  We 
have  but  little  detailed  information  concerning  this  region, 
however,  and  the  studies  of  modern  geographers  have  like- 
wise been  meagre  throughout  all  the  coast-line  farther 
south. 

The  Pacific  coast  of  Mexico  is  geographically  similar  to 
that  of  California,  but  instead  of  a  single  great  harbour 
there  are  four  of  moderate  size  and  excellence,  the  histories 
of  which  have  not  been  studied.  Farther  south,  along  the 
Central  American  coast,  the  shores  are  bold,  but  several 
indentations,  due  in  part  at  least  to  volcanic  agencies, 
furnish  shelter  for  vessels  and  offer  encouragement  to 
commerce. 

The  bold  and  not  deeply  sculptured  mountains  along 
the  nearly  unbroken  coast  from  the  Strait  of  Fuca  to  Pan- 
ama, rise  close  to  the  true  border  of  the  continent.  The 
continental  shelf  of  this  portion  of  the  shore  of  the  Pacific 
is  narrow.  An  elevation  of  [oo  fathoms  would  add  scared) 
more  than  to  miles  to  the  extent  of  the  land.  This  nar- 
rowness of  the  continental  shelf  seems  to  be  due  to  the 


5Q  NORTH    AMERICA 

recency  of  the  uplifting  of  the  Coast  mountains,  and  the 
lack  of  time  for  the  debris  from  the  land  and  the  organic 
refuse  of  the  sea  to  shoal  the  water.  The  Pacific  basin  is 
deep  close  to  the  land  bordering  it,  thus  restricting  the  sea- 
ward extension  of  the  continental  shelf. 

Changes  in  the  Coast-Line  due  to  Ice. — It  is  now  well 
known  that  glacial  ice  many  hundreds  of  feet  thick  formerly 
covered  the  northern  half  of  North  America  and  flowed 
outward  across  the  present  position  of  the  coast-line 
throughout  all  of  the  northern  border  of  the  continent 
from  Staten  Island  in  the  east  and  Puget  Sound  in  the 
west,  with  the  exception  of  the  Arctic  and  Bering  Sea 
coasts  of  Alaska. 

The  effects  of  this  outward-flowing  ice  on  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  continental  border  crossed  by  it  were  in  general 
in  two  directions.  Where  the  land  was  rough  or  moder- 
ately so  previous  to  the  coming  of  the  ice-sheets  the  in- 
equalities of  surface  were  increased ;  but  where  the  land  was 
smooth  or  but  gently  undulating  its  elevations  were  planed 
away  by  the  glaciers  and  made  still  more  smooth.  The  rea- 
son for  these  differences  is  that  when  the  land  from  which 
the  ice  flowed  was  rugged  or  had  previously  been  deeply 
trenched  by  streams,  the  valleys  gave  direction  to  the  ice 
currents  and  the  margins  of  the  continental  ice-sheets  be- 
came divided  into  separate  ice-streams,  as  is  the  case  in 
Greenland  at  the  present  day.  This  localization  of  the  ice 
currents  served  to  deepen  and  broaden  the  pre-existing 
valleys,  and  especially  on  the  bold  coast  of  Alaska  and  Brit- 
ish Columbia  increased  in  a  marked  way  the  inequalities  of 
the  surface  and  favoured  the  production  of  a  ragged  coast- 
line when  the  ice  melted  and  was  replaced  in  part  by  the  sea. 
When,  however,  the  topography  of  the  land  was  not  suf- 
ficiently accented  to  cause  the  ice  flowing  over  it  to  gather 
into  well-defined  currents  the  general  surface  was  worn 
down,  thus  favouring  the  production  of  an  even  coast-line 
after  the  melting  of  the  ice-sheets. 

Where  the  coast-lands  were  high  and  rugged,  the  deep- 
ening and  broadening  of  the  valleys  led  to  the  origin  of 
deep,  narrow,  canal-like  waterways  termed  fiords  (fjords). 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      51 

when  the  ice  withdrew  from  the  partially  submerged  land 
or  when  subsequent  depression  carried  the  glaciated 
troughs  below  sea-level.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Maine 
to  Labrador,  and  thence  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
there  are  numerous  examples  of  fiords,  as  is  also  the  case 
on  the  Pacific  coast  from  Mount  St.  Elias  to  Puget  Sound. 
At  the  present  time  the  localized  ice-streams  from  the 
great  central  ice-sheet  of  Greenland  are  continuing  this 
process  of  fiord  excavation.  The  same  is  true  also,  but  on 
a  much  smaller  scale,  of  the  tide-water  glaciers  of  southern 
Alaska. 

The  shores  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  continent  from 
New  England  to  the  Aleutian  Islands  are  now  being  modi- 
fied by  the  grinding  of  ice-floes,  which  are  driven  against 
the  land  by  the  wind.  This  process,  however,  although 
locally  important,  need  claim  but  little  attention  in  a  gen- 
eral view  of  the  geography  of  the  continent. 

Changes  in  the  Coast-Line  due  to  the  Deposits  made  by 
Streams. — The  visible  loads  of  silt  and  sand  in  suspension 
carried  to  the  ocean  by  streams,  as  well  as  the  material 
the  streams  roll  and  push  along  their  bottoms,  is  delivered 
to  the  waters  of  the  ocean  and  deposited  in  various  ways. 
Much  of  this  material,  notably  the  coarser  portion,  is 
dropped  near  land  and  the  finer  portion  floated  far  out  from 
the  coast  before  settling  to  the  bottom.  Two  classes  of  de- 
posits made  in  this  way  may  be  recognised,  namely,  those 
laid  down  by  the  streams  themselves  as  they  drop  their 
loads  on  entering  still  water,  or  delta  deposits;  and  those 
spread  over  the  sea-floor  by  waves  and  currents  after  re- 
ceiving the  debris  brought  from  the  land.  Which  of  these 
two  modes  of  deposition  will  prevail  depends  on  whether 
the  waters  of  the  ocean  at  the  localities  where  the  streams 
deliver  their  loads  are  essentially  still  or  are  affected  by 
strong  Currents.  In  the  former  instance  all  but  the  finer 
of  the  debris  derived  from  the  land  is  quickly  dropped  and 
delta-  are  formed;  and  in  the  second  instance  the  currents 
bear  the  material  away  and  deposil  il  cither  in  tin  shallow 
water  adjacent  to  the  neighbouring  shore,  forming  shoals, 
bars,  embankments,  spits,  etc.,  or  spread  it  in  a  sheet  over 


52  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  sea-floor.  The  most  notable  changes  in  the  coast-line 
resulting  from  this  general  process  occur  where  silt-laden 
streams  enter  still  water  and  form  deltas. 

On  the  coast  of  North  America  many  of  the  streams 
which  enter  estuaries  deliver  their  loads  to  waters  which  are 
agitated,  especially  by  tidal  currents,  and  ill-defined  shoals, 
sand-banks,  etc.,  are  produced.  In  three  conspicuous  in- 
stances, however,  large  rivers  are  engaged  in  building 
deltas,  and  thus  producing  well-marked  changes  in  the 
coast-line. 

At  the  north,  the  Mackenzie  enters  the  nearly  tideless 
Arctic  Ocean,  where  floating  ice  almost  completely  counter- 
acts the  tendency  of  the  wind  to  produce  currents,  and  a 
great  delta  is  being  extended  seaward.  The  river  divides 
on  its  delta  into  many  distributaries  and  enters  the  sea  by 
several  mouths.  The  sea  near  the  mouths  of  the  river  is  re- 
ported to  be  shallow,  and  obstructed  by  many  sand-banks 
and  islands.  No  survey  of  the  Mackenzie  delta  has  as  yet 
been  made,  and  but  little  definite  information  concerning  it 
is  available. 

The  Yukon  on  entering  the  shallow  eastern  portion  of 
Bering  Sea,  where  the  influence  of  the  tides  is  small  and 
floating  ice  is  present  throughout  about  nine  months  each 
year,  is  also  engaged  in  building  a  great  delta  which  pro- 
jects into  the  sea  and  gives  the  coast-line  a  bold  outward 
curve.  The  Yukon  begins  to  divide  into  separate  channels, 
several  of  which  enter  the  sea  as  independent  distributaries 
at  a  distance  of  about  150  miles  from  the  outer  border  of 
its  delta.  The  distance  between  the  outer  finger-like  divi- 
sion of  the  stream  is  about  90  miles.  The  Yukon  is  a 
graded  stream — i.  e.,  is  able  to  carry  material  in  suspen- 
sion, but  not  to  deepen  or  fill  its  channel — in  the  lower 
portion  of  its  course,  and  is  making  an  important  addition 
to  the  land  owing  to  the  dropping  of  its  burden  of  silt  as 
soon  as  the  still  water  into  which  it  flows  is  reached.  The 
stream  is  thus  being  extended,  and  in  order  to  enable  it 
to  continue  its  task  of  transportation  and  the  delivery  of 
its  load  to  the  sea,  the  extended  portion  of  its  channel  is 
built  up  so  as  to  give  a  slope  down  which  the  waters  can 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      53 

flow — that  is,  the  beds  of  the  distributaries  are  raised,  and 
they  also  shift  their  positions  from  time  to  time  and  make 
additions  to  the  entire  surface  of  the  delta.  This  exten- 
sion of  the  stream  and  deposition  of  silt  by  its  distributaries 
have  added  about  1 ,000  square  miles  to  the  land.  Although 
the  delta  of  the  Yukon  presents  an  admirable  example  of  the 
change  in  a  coast-line  produced  by  the  sediment  dropped 
by  a  great  river,  the  partial  surveys  of  it  that  have  been  made 
are  not  as  yet  available  for  study. 

Fully  as  characteristic  of  the  modification  of  coast-lines 
made  by  a  stream  as  any  in  the  world  is  the  well-known  ex- 
ample of  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi.  This  classical  instance 
illustrates  not  only  the  manner  in  which  coast-lines  are 
modified,  but  the  behaviour  of  a  large  silt-laden  stream 
which  has  reduced  its  valley  to  a  low  gradient,  and  through- 
out hundreds  of  miles  of  its  lower  course  is  spreading  out 
a  wide  flood  plain.  The  extension  seaward  of  this  flood 
plain  forms  the  broad  delta  at  the  river's  mouth. 

During  high-water  stages  the  Mississippi  widely  over- 
spreads its  banks  and  during  such  inundations  of  its  valley 
drops  much  of  the  silt  it  previously  held  in  suspension. 
The  material  deposited  is  laid  down  most  abundantly  on 
the  immediate  border  of  its  low-water  channel.  Each  side 
of  the  channel  is  thus  raised  so  as  to  form  what  is  termed 
a  natural  levee.  During  this  process  also  the  bed  of  the 
stream  is  raised  by  the  deposition  of  sediment  upon  it,  thus 
tending  to  cause  the  stream  to  flow  on  a  raised  ridge  and 
producing  an  unstable  condition  which  from  time  to  time 
enable-  the  river  to  break  across  its  confining  levees  and 
divide  into  two  or  more  separate  channels.  In  the  lower 
porti-m  of  the  river  some  of  the  new  channels  thus  formed 
reach  the  sea  and  furnish  independent  outlet-  tor  it-  waters. 
The  first  of  these  distributaries  now  departs  from  the  mam 
channel  ai  a  distance  of  200  mile-  from  the  GiiH  of  Mexico, 
and  farther  seaward  several  other  divisions  occur  (Fig.  i-'>. 
The  area  of  the  delta  i-  about  [.,230  square  mUeS.  Each 
distributary  is  engaged  in  building  a  pair  <.f  embankments, 
or  natural  1<  ilthough  this  process  in  recenl  year-  has 

been   modified  by  the  construction  of  artificial   embank- 
5 


«ft.JW.      .      5i  3j  3i 

13  .,SaT>lePt.  ,*t.bkJt. 

^^^--^^^v*^   iL        i  ^     : 


34  15  3t 

84 


-i 


31 


/*.    <4 


Scale  of  Miles 


■'•■■■        '■■••<<       ■    


&      4»      a      2      2      o 

Fig.  12. — Delta  of  the  Mississippi.     After  United  States  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Survey. 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      55 

ments  for  the  sake  of  improving  navigation),  and  each  sub- 
division of  the  river  is  also  building-  a  delta.  Each  of  the 
finger-like  extensions  of  the  delta,  shown  on  the  accom- 
panying map,  is  due  to  the  prolongation  of  a  pair  of  em- 
bankments into  the  Gulf  by  each  distributary  and  the 
growth  of  a  secondary  delta  at  its  mouth.  The  river  is 
thus  building  a  highly  compound  delta,  composed  of  the 
secondary  deltas  formed  at  the  mouth  of  each  of  its  dis- 
tributaries. A  conspicuous  modification  of  the  otherwise 
generally  evenly  curved  border  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  is 
thus  produced,  a  result  that  could  only  be  reached  in  a 
water  body  but  little  disturbed  by  wind  or  tidal  currents. 

ESTUARIES    AND    HARBOURS 

The  features  of  a  coast  of  greatest  importance  to  civili- 
zation are  its  harbours.  A  coast  without  harbours  is  like  a 
Chinese  wall,  and  tends  to  isolate  a  people  inclosed  by  it. 
An  indented  coast  with  numerous  havens  for  the  shelter 
of  vessels  fosters  the  interests  of  navigation,  including  sea 
fisheries,  invites  commerce  from  other  lands,  and  stimu- 
lates its  inhabitants  to  explore  and  travel.  A  diversity  of 
industries  is  thus  favoured  and  the  people  adjacent  to  an 
indented  coast  with  good  harbours  tend  to  become  more 
progressive  and  more  cosmopolitan  than  if  intercourse  with 
other  communities  is  confined  to  overland  routes. 

The  Atlantic  border  of  North  America  is  abundantly 
supplied  with  fine  harbours,  which  not  only  favour  com- 
munication with  distant  countries,  but  arc  within  easy  reach 
of  agricultural  and  forest  lands  and  important  coal  and  other 
mineral  deposits  adjacent  to  the  coast  or  in  the  interior,  and 
are  near  extensive  and  valuable  fishing  grounds.  The  besl 
of  these  harbours  are  at  the  mouths  of  rivers  which  have 
been  depressed  so  as  to  form  estuaries  with  wide  entrances. 
These  sea-gates,  however,  are  frequently  contracted,  owing 
to  the  presence  of  sand  bars  and  spits  deposited  by  shore 
currents. 

The  great  St.  Lawrence  estuary  reaches  to  Montreal, 
and  beyond  lie  the  Great  Lakes,  the  rich  lands  ,.f  (  mtario 


56  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  New  York,  and  the  now  highly  productive  States  of 
the  Middle  West.  Two  geographical  features  in  this  basin 
detract  from  the  conditions  otherwise  highly  favourable  to 
commercial  development,  namely:  the  rapids  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  between  Montreal  and  Lake  Ontario  and  the  fall 
in  the  Niagara,  and  the  winter  climate  of  Canada,  which 
causes  the  rivers  and  estuaries  to  be  ice-bound  for  a  con- 
siderable part  of  each  year.  'To  obviate  the  first  of  these 
unfavourable  conditions  far-reaching  plans  for  a  deep 
waterway  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Atlantic  are 
now  being  matured.  The  splendid  harbours  from  Nova 
Scotia  southward  are  never  seriously  obstructed  by  ice, 
and  south  of  Virginia  ice  is  practically  unknown. 

The  estuaries  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson,  Delaware, 
Susquehanna,  Potomac,  James,  and  the  Alabama,  together 
with  the  distributaries  of  the  Mississippi  (which  is  not  a 
partially  drowned  river,  but  one  that  is  building  up  and 
extending  its  channel),  are  the  natural  outlets  of  portions 
of  the  continent  of  great  fruitfulness.  When  other,  and 
especially  climatic,  conditions  are  considered,  it  will  be 
seen  that  to  the  geographer  the  Atlantic  sea-border  from 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  seems 
destined  to  be  the  next  great  commercial  centre  in  the 
succession  from  Greece  to  Britain.  An  important  adjunct 
to  the  present  highly  favourable  geographical  conditions 
pointing  to  a  great  future  for  civilization  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  is  the  construction  of  a  ship-canal  across  the  isthmus 
uniting  North  and  South  America.  This  step  must  soon 
be  taken. 

A  glance  at  a  map  of  North  America  must  impress  one 
with  the  belief  that  the  Pacific  coast  with  its  great  extent 
of  harbourless  water-front  is  far  less  favourable  to  the 
growth  or  ideas,  institutions,  and  industries  than  the  deeply 
indented  Atlantic  shore-line.  From  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
to  the  State  of  Washington  there  is,  as  we  have  seen,  but 
one  harbour  of  the  first  class,  the  estuary  of  the  Sacramento, 
and  one  of  the  second  or  third  class,  the  estuary  of  the 
Columbia.  From  Puget  Sound  northward  harbours  are 
numberless.     There  are  two  important  geographical  rea- 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    CONTINENT      57 

sons,  however,  why  the  general  absence  of  good  harbours 
to  the  south  of  Puget  Sound  is  not  so  serious  as  it  perhaps 
might  seem.  First,  the  mountain  ranges  run  north  and 
south  parallel  with  the  coast,  and  the  natural  lines  of  interior 
travel  lead  to  the  outlets  through  the  Coast  Ranges  traversed 
by  the  Sacramento  and  the  Columbia.  The  second  and 
more  general  reason  is  that,  owing  to  the  warm  currents  in 
the  Pacific,  the  portion  of  the  west  coast  most  favourable 
for  a  high  degree  of  civilization  is  situated  farther  north 
than  the  similar  belt  on  the  Atlantic  border. 

By  way  of  a  summary  of  this  chapter,  the  reader  is  asked 
to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  land  forming  North 
America,  as  is  the  case  with  all  continents,  is  not  at  rest,  but 
is  subject  to  movements  which  cause  elevations  and  de- 
pressions of  various  portions  of  its  area  with  reference  to 
sea-level.  These  movements  have  been  in  progress  since 
the  birth  of  the  continent,  and  still  continue.  An  upward 
movement  of  the  earth's  crust  where  the  land  and  ocean 
meet  causes  a  portion  of  the  sea-floor  to  emerge  and  an  ad- 
dition usually  of  the  nature  of  a  coastal  plain  to  be  made  to 
the  border  of  a  continent;  while  a  reverse  movement  enables 
the  sea  to  advance  on  the  land  and  to  flood  the  low-grade 
valleys  opening  to  the  ocean. 

In  a  generalized  view  of  the  recent  history  of  the  coast- 
line of  North  America  the  dominant  fact  is  that  to  the  north 
of  the  latitude  of  the  north  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  the 
resultant  of  the  later  movements  of  the  continent  is  down- 
ward; the  amount  of  the  depression  thus  caused  increases 
in  a  general  way  with  increase  in  latitude  on  both  the  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  coasts.  This  downward  movement  has 
permitted  the  sea  to  encroach  on  the  land  and  to  flood 
many  pre-existing  valleys.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  it  pro- 
duced such  estuaries  as  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Bays, 
the  tide-water  portions  of  such  rivers  as  the  Hudson  and 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  farther  north,  where  the  submer 
gence  was  greater,  permitted  the  sea  to  invade  the  conti- 
nental basin  and  form  Hudson  Bay.  To  tin-  same  wide- 
reaching  cause  is  due  also  the  bold  ragged  coast-line  of  the 


58  NORTH    AMERICA 

Atlantic  from  New  England  northward.  On  the  Pacific 
border  the  downward  movement  is  recorded  by  the  tide- 
water portions  of  the  Sacramento,  Columbia,  etc.,  and  the 
deep  picturesque  fiords  of  the  Canadian  and  Alaskan 
coasts.  The  most  decided  influence  of  these  changes  in 
the  geography  of  the  continent's  margin  on  the  affairs  of 
men  resulted  from  the  production  of  numerous  fine  har- 
bours and  the  extension  of  estuaries  far  inland,  thus  favour- 
ing commerce  and  fisheries  in  a  high  degree. 

As  a  result  of  the  oscillations  just  referred  to,  the  sea 
has  gained  important  characteristics  as  well  as  the  land. 
The  broad  submerged  shelf  fringing  the  continent  fur- 
nishes conditions  highly  favourable  to  both  plant  and 
animal  life,  and  affords  some  of  the  most  valuable  fishing- 
banks  of  the  world. 

The  Caribbean  region  is  a  marked  exception  to  the 
broader  changes  that  have  affected  the  coast-line  through- 
out the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the  continent,  and 
stands  by  itself  as  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  more 
localized  earth  movements  which  produced  a  remarkable 
submarine  topography. 


LITERATURE 

In  continuation  of  the  studies  outlined  in  this  chapter 
the  following  books,  most  of  which  contain  more  special 
references,  will  be  found  of  assistance: 

AGASSIZ,  A.  Three  Cruises  of  the  Blake.  2  vols.  Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Co.,  Boston,  1888. 

GILBERT,  G.  K.  The  TopograpJiic  Features  of  Lake  Shores.  In 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  Fifth  Annual  Report,  i883-'84, 
pp.  69-123. 

Gulliver,  F.  P.  Shoreline  Topography.  In  Proceedings  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  xxxiv,  1899,  pp.  151-258. 
Contains  a  valuable  bibliography. 

Hill,  R.  T.  The  Geological  History  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and 
Portions  of  Costa  Rica.  Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative 
Zoology  at  Harvard  College,  vol.  xxviii,  1898,  pp.  151-285. 

Hill,  R.  T.  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  with  the  Other  Islands  of  the  West 
Indies.     The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  1899. 


THE    MARGIN    OF    THE    COXTIXEXT      59 

SHALER,  N.  S.     Seacoast  Swamps  of  the  Eastern  United  States.     In 

United    States  Geological  Survey,  Sixth   Annual   Report,  i884-'85, 

PP-  353-398- 
Shaler,  N.  S.    The  Geologieal  History  of  Harbors.     In  United  States 

Geological  Survey,  Thirteenth  Annual  Report,  Part  II,  i89i-'92,  pp. 

93-209. 
Shaler,  X.  S.     Sea  and  Land.     Scribner,  New  York,  1894. 
United  States    Coast   and   Geodetic    Survey.     Annual    Reports,    Coast 

Pilot,  Tide  Tables,  etc. 

CHARTS    AND    MAPS 

To  the  student  of  the  geography  of  the  coast  and  submerged  border  of 
North  America,  the  extensive  series  of  charts  published  by  the 
United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  supply  a  vast  amount  of 
accurate  information.  A  catalogue  of  these  charts,  with  prices,  etc., 
is  issued  by  the  Survey.  Many  of  the  charts  issued  by  the  United 
States  Hydrographic  Office,  and  a  large  number  of  the  topographic 
maps  published  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  are  of  value 
in  this  same  connection.  An  account  of  these  charts  and  maps,  with 
instructions  as  to  methods  of  obtaining  them,  etc.,  is  given  in  Gov- 
ernment Maps  for  Use  in  Schools,  by  Messrs.  Davis,  King,  and 
Collie,  published  by  H.  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1894. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND 

Taking  the  better-known  portions  of  North  America 
as  a  basis  on  which  to  classify  the  leading  geographical 
features  of  the  continent,  it  is  convenient,  and  in  the  main 
sufficiently  accurate,  to  recognise  five  primary  physio- 
graphic provinces.  These  are,  in  their  general  order,  from 
east  to  west: 

i.  Coastal  plains  and  plateaus,  of  which  the  country  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
furnishes  the  most  typical  examples. 

2.  A  series  of  mountain  ranges  embracing  all  of  the 
more  elevated  country  on  the  east  side  of  the  continent 
from  Georgia  northward  to  the  arctic  archipelago,  and  in 
this  book  termed  the  Atlantic  Mountains. 

3.  The  great  system  of  plains  and  plateaus  extending 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean 
and  bordered  on  the  east  by  the  Atlantic  Mountains  and  on 
the  west  by  a  still  greater  series  of  mountains,  which  may  be 
designated  with  sufficient  accuracy  as  the  Continental  Basin. 

4.  A  group  of  mountain  chains  and  mountain  ranges  on 
the  west  side  of  the  continent,  including  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, Sierra  Nevada,  Cascades,  etc.,  and  sometimes  termed 
the  Cordilleras.  Under  the  scheme  of  classification  here 
used,  this  highly  complex  belt  of  rugged  country  extending 
from  south-central  Mexico  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean 
is  termed  the  Pacific  Cordillera,  or,  in  less  technical  language, 
the  Pacific  Mountains.1 

1  The   propriety   of  using  the  names    here  employed   for  the  larger 
physiographic  provinces  of  North  America  has  been  discussed  by  several 
writers    in   the   Bulletin  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  ii, 
1899,  pp.  55-69- 
60 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       61 

Each  of  the  four  physiographic  provinces  briefly  de- 
scribed above  is  in  a  conspicuous  manner  elongated  in  a 
north  and  south  direction.  The  mountains,  valleys,  and 
plateaus,  as  well  as  the  controlling  lines  of  structure  in  the 
rocks  below  the  surface,  throughout  the  main  body  of  the 


6CALE  OF  MILES 

Fig.  13.  — The  larger  physiographic  divisions  of  North  Aim 


continent  coincide  in  direction  more  or  less  nearly  with 
the  parallels  of  longitude.  At  the  south,  however,  and 
crossing  the  trend  of  each  of  the  provinces  named  above, 
is  the: 

Fifth,  or  Caribbean  province,  which  includes  the  Wesl 
Indies,  the  southern  pari   of  Mexico,  and  all  of  <  entral 


62  NORTH    AMERICA 

America.  In  this  province  are  the  Antillean  Mountains, 
now  mostly  submerged,  the  principal  axes  of  which  trend 
east  and  west. 

With  this  brief  outline  of  the  larger  physical  divisions 
of  North  America  in  mind,  let  us  endeavour  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  leading  characteristics  of  each  of  the 
provinces  as  they  exist  to-day,  and  at  the  same  time  learn 
something  of  their  long  and  varied  histories. 

COASTAL  PLAINS  AND  PLATEAUS 

The  Coastal  Plains. — From  New  York  to  Key  West 
and  thence  about  the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Vera  Cruz,  the  border  of  the  present 
land-area  of  the  continent  is  formed  by  a  low  plain,  from 
30  to  50  miles  broad  in  New  Jersey,  but  increasing  in  width 
southward  to  Georgia  and  Florida,  where  its  somewhat 
indefinite  inland  margin  is  more  than  100  miles  from  the 
sea,  and  reaching  its  greatest  development  in  the  delta  of 
the  Mississippi.  Extending  southward  about  the  west 
coast  of  the  Gulf,  it  forms  the  low,  featureless  eastern 
border  of  Texas,  about  50  miles  broad,  and  passes  into 
Mexico,  but  gradually  narrows  as  the  Pacific  Mountains 
approach  the  coast,  and  ends  in  the  vicinity  of  Vera  Cruz. 

The  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coastal  plain  everywhere  slopes 
gently  seaward,  and  on  its  landward  margin  has  an  elevation 
in  general  of  from  200  to  300  feet.  The  character  of 
the  material  of  which  the  coastal  plain  is  composed,  the 
fossils  contained  in  it,  as  well  as  its  geographical  features, 
show  that  it  is  a  continuation  of  the  continental  shelf,  and 
was  formed  at  a  time  when  the  border  of  the  continent 
was  more  deeply  submerged  than  at  present.  Minor  oscil- 
lations of  the  earth's  crust  have  time  and  again  allowed  the 
sea  to  extend  inland,  onlv  to  be  forced  to  recede  when  the 
land  again  rose.  Each  invasion  of  the  sea  left  a  sheet  of 
soft  sediment  over  the  portion  of  the  land  that  was  sub- 
merged. These  oscillations  are  still  in  progress,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  along  the  New  Jersey  coast  a  down- 
ward movement  at  the  rate  of  about  2  feet  per  century  is 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       6 


6 


taking  place.  A  similar  depression  of  the  land  is  also 
thought  to  be  in  progress  along  the  south  Atlantic  coast 
and  in  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi.  The  Atlantic  coastal 
plain  has  its  most  characteristic  development  in  South 
Carolina,  and  is  roughly  divisible  according  to  its  topogra- 
phy and  soil  into  several  belts  parallel  with  the  shore-line. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  transversely  divided  into  strips  by  the 
several  rivers  which  flow  across  it  and  by  the  many  branches 
of  these  rivers  originating  on  the  plain  itself. 

The  junction  of  the  portion  of  the  gently  sloping  border 
of  the  continent  now  above  sea-level,  with  the  submerged 
portion,  is  characterized  by  the  presence  of  a  belt  of  swamps. 
in  part  marine  marshes  where  the  salt  water  ebbs  and  flows, 
and  in  part  fresh-water  morasses  in  which  the  drainage 
is  obstructed  largely  by  decaying  vegetation.  Inland  from 
the  coastal  swamps  the  surface  becomes  higher,  is  for  the 
most  part  well  drained,  and  when  not  too  sandy  furnishes 
rich  agricultural  lands.  The  Atlantic  plain  as  a  whole  thus 
has  three  principal  divisions  r'a  submerged  portion?"a  marsh 
portion,^  and  a  subaerial  portion.  During  past  ages  the 
position  of  each  of  these  belts  migrated,  owing  to  move- 
ments in  the  earth's  crust,  but  their  succession  in  reference 
to  each  other  has  been  the  same  since  the  Tertiary  period. 

One  of  the  most  typical  portions  of  the  fringe  of  swamps 
now  bordering  the  land  is  situated  in  eastern  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  and  is  known  as  the  Dismal  Swamp.  In 
the  central  portion  of  this  marshy  region,  embracing  some 
700  square  miles,  lies  Lake  Drummond,  an  example  of  a 
large  number  of  small  fresh-water  lakes  which  are  retained 
by  rims  composed  of  plant  growths  and  decaying  vege- 
table matter.  The  mound  of  vegetable  debris  in  the  sum- 
mit of  which  Lake  Drummond  is  situated  is  from  20  to 
30  miles  broad  and  rises  -Mine  1  _*  feet  above  tide-level. 
The  lake  i-  nearly  circular,  from  2  to  j'  miles  in  diam- 
eter, and    from   6   to    10   feel    dee]).      The    water   is   auiber- 

coloured  on  account  of  the  vegetable  matter  in  solution,  but 
is  clear  and  without  sediment  in  suspension,  and  is  consid- 
ered  as  remarkably   wholesome.     The  lake   was   without 

definite  outlet  previous  \<<   tin-  cutting  of  drainage  canals, 


64  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  is  entirely  encircled  by  a  dense  forest,  which  has  en- 
croached on  its  border  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  its 
boundaries  indefinite.  The  wall  of  rank  vegetation  sur- 
rounding the  open  waters  of  the  lake  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  encircling  swamp.  Standing  in  the  lake  and  sup- 
ported by  their  widely  expanded  roots  are  several  aged 
cypress-trees. 

Along  the  coast  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  sand-bars 
thrown  up  by  the  sea  have  formed  many  lagoons  (Fig. 
6),  which  are  being  filled  by  the  wash  of  detritus  from  the 
land,  by  sand  blown  from  their'  confining  ridges,  and  by 
vegetation  and  the  hard  parts  of  molluscs,  crustaceans,  etc., 
living  in  their  waters.  In  part,  these  areas  have  been  con- 
verted into  swamps,  and  are  gradually  being  transformed 
into  dry  land.  Farther  southward,  about  the  shores  of 
Florida,  and  thence  along  the  Gulf  border,  the  low,  in- 
definite margin  of  the  coastal  plain  is  fringed  in  many  places 
by  dense  thickets  of  mangrove-trees,  which  extend  their 
aerial  roots  into  the  salt  water,  and  by  retaining  sediment 
and  dead  vegetation  as  well  as  by  furnishing  conditions 
favourable  for  animal  life,  lead  to  a  gradual  extension  of 
the  land. 

The  west  border  of  the  coastal  plain  from  Xew  York 
southward  to  central  Georgia  is  at  the  junction  of  the  soft, 
unconsolidated  sands  and  clays  of  the  emerged  portion 
of  the  continental  shelf,  with  hard  and  usually  crystalline 
rocks  of  great  geological  age  forming  an  upland  known 
as  the  Piedmont  plateau,  which  extends  westward  to  the 
base  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains.  The  sharply  defined 
boundary  between  the  plain  and  the  plateau  is  termed  the 
foil  line,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  marked  by  the  lowest  falls 
and  rapids  in  the  streams  flowing  eastward  from  the  Ap- 
palachian Mountains.  Throughout  the  courses  of  these 
streams  to  the  west  of  the  fall  line  they  are  shallow  and  swift 
and  broken  by  many  picturesque  rapids,  while  to  the  east 
of  the  fall  line  they  broaden  in  the  soft  sediments  of  the 
coastal  plain,  and  are  deep,  placid  streams  which  widen  into 
estuaries.  The  influence  of  the  tides  is  felt  in  these  drowned 
rivers  to  the  fall  line.    The  most  important  fact  in  this  con- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       65 

nection  is  that  the  lower  courses  of  the  larger  rivers,  such 
as  the  Delaware,  Susquehanna,  Potomac,  James,  etc.,  are 


Fig.  14. — Relief  map  of  North  America.     After  United  State: 

Survey  and  Canadian  Geological  Survey. 

navigable  for  ocean-going  vessels,  while  their  upper  c<  »urses 
to  the  west  of  the  fall  line  are  difficult  to  traverse  even  in 
canoes. 


66  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  fall  line  is  thus  the  head  of  navigation  in  a  number 
of  rivers,  and  for  this  reason  it  has  determined  the  sites  of 
several  important  cities.  Its  course  is  marked  by  Trenton, 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington,  Richmond,  Weldon, 
Raleigh,  Augusta,  and  Macon.  Farther  south,  about  the 
landward  margin  of  the  portion  of  the  coastal  plain  border- 
ing the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  fall  line  is  less  distinct,  largely 
for  the  reason  that  the  rocks  bordering  it  on  the  north 
and  west  are  less  resistant  than  those  forming  the  plateau 
at  the  east  base  of  the  Appalachians. 

Exceptions  to  the  fact  that  the  coastal  plain  is  com- 
posed mostly  of  soft  sediments  occur  in  southern  Florida 
and  in  Yucatan,v.  where  coral  rock  has  been  upraised. 
Southeastward  from  Yucatan  a  coastal  plain  is  wanting  and 
rocky  bluffs  separated  by  stream-cut  valleys  come  boldly 
down  to  the  surf  line.  Partially  drowned  valleys  on  each 
side  of  Central  America  bear  record  of  a  recent  but  mod- 
erate downward  movement  of  the  land. 

From  New  York  northward  along  the  border  of  the 
continent  the  coastal  plain  is  mostly  lacking,  or  if  recogni- 
sable, is  greatly  modified  by  glacial  deposits,  and  the  Pied- 
mont plateau,  as  it  is  known  farther  south,  swings  eastward 
and  becomes  a  coastal  plateau  with  a  more  or  less  rough- 
ened surface,  which  extends  northward  to  Labrador  and 
the  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  geologically  recent  oscillations  of  the  continent, 
as  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  have  been  greatest  in 
high  latitudes,  where  the  last  movement,  as  there  are -rea- 
sons for  believing,  was  upward  and  is  still  continuing. 
Thisjrise,  altliQugh  it  has  not  fully  counteracted  the  changes 
produced  by  a  preceding  downward  movement,  has  caused 
the  shore-line  to  recede  and  a  great  area  on  the  arctic 
border  of  the  continent  which  was  previously  submerged 
has  thus  become  exposed.  The  coastal  plain  on  the  west 
side  of  Hudson  Bay,  as  described  by  T.  B.  Tyrrell,  is  about 
50  miles  wide  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Churchill,  latitude  550, 
and  broadens  rapidly  northward  of  that  locality.  In  lati- 
tude 640  the  boundary  between  these  new  lands  and  the 
older  plains  of  the  interior  is  about  300  miles  from  the  pres- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       67 

ent  shore;  thence  northwestward  it  has  not  been  traced, 
but  may  be  expected  to  cross  the  Mackenzie  some  250 
miles  from  its  mouth  and  pass  westward  into  Alaska. 

This  arctic  coastal  plain  is  known  in  part  as  the  Barren 
Grounds,  but  in  general  may  be  designated  as  a  tundra,  as 
over  extensive  areas  it  is  similar  to  the  still  greater  tundras 
of  Siberia.  This  tundra  forms  the  extreme  northern  and' 
northwestern  border  of  the  continent  in  arctic  Canada  and 
northern  and  northwestern  Alaska,  and  although  but  im- 
perfectly explored,  has  a  length  of  probably  2,000  miles  and 
a  width  of  from  50  to  60,  and  in  places  of  over  100  miles. 
On  the  west  coast  of  Hudson  Bay  the  tundra  region  slopes 
gradually  from  500  to  600  feet  above  the  sea  down  to  the 
present  coast,  and  is  traversed  by  sand  and  gravel  terraces 
and  beaches  or  ridges  which  mark  the  former  positions  of 
the  sea  margin.  The  lower  ridges  referred  to  are  thickly 
strewn  with  shells  of  molluscs  belonging  to  species  still 
living  in  the  adjacent  ocean  waters,  thus  indicating  the  re- 
cency of  the  emergence  of  the  land.  This  arctic  coastal 
plain  has  the  same  general  geographical  features  as  the 
coast  plain  on  the  southern  Atlantic  and  Gulf  border  of  the 
continent;  but,  owing  mainly  to  different  climatic  condi- 
tions, differs  from  its  southern  representative  in  nearly 
every  detail. 

The  tundra  may  be  briefly  defined  as  a  vast  frozen 
morass.  The  dense  mat-like  vegetation  consists  principally 
of  mosses  and  lichens  (but  not  noticeably  of  Sphagnum  or 
peat-moss,  as  is  sometimes  stated),  and  during  the  short 
and  not  infrequently  hot  summers  is  beautified  by  a  multi- 
tude of  low  flowering  herbaceous  plants.  Trees  arc  absent, 
except  along  the  inland  border,  where  the  tundra  merges 
with  the  subarctic  forest.  To  the  north,  or  seaward  from 
the  isolated  groves  of  stunted  spruce-trees  marking  the 
n'neiital  timber  line,"  the  only  representative  of  arbo- 
real vegetation  is  usually  the  slim  osier-like  arctic  willow 
which  grows  in  sheltered  localities  and  attains  a  heighl  <>i  .} 
to  5  feet.  Near  tin-  streams  there  arc  in  some  localities 
broad  areas  covered  with  dark-green  meadow  like  growths 
of  rushes  (Equiseta).    The  luxuriant  flowering  plants  spring 


68  NORTH    AMERICA 

into  existence  as  if  by  magic  as  soon  as  the  winter's  snow 
melts,  and  under  the  warmth  and  light  of  the  nightless 
arctic  summer  grow  with  wonderful  rapidity.  In  winter 
the  tundra  is  snow-covered,  but  the  snow  is  less  deep  than 
in  more  humid  regions,  and  the  cold  is  intense.  The  bog 
becomes  deeply  frozen,  and  is  not  completely  thawed  dur- 
ing the  succeeding  summer.  Even  in  midsummer,  when 
the  surface  is  a  luxuriant  garden  of  flowers  and  fresh 
gray-green  moss,  ice  exists  a  foot  or  two  beneath  the 
luxuriant  carpet  and  extends  to  a  great  but  unknown 
depth.  Excavations  made  in  Alaska  have  shown  that  the 
perennial,  dirt-stained  ice  beneath  the  tundra  is  at  least 
25  feet  thick,  but  this  is  by  no  means  its  maximum  depth. 
On  the  shore  of  Eschscholtz  Bay  and  along  the  Kowak 
River  sections  of  the  tundra  exposed  in  cliffs  indicate  a 
thickness  of  150  to  300  feet  of  ice,  covered  by  a  thin  layer 
of  black  peatv  soil.  The  similar  region  in  Siberia,  as  shown 
by  borings,  is  known  to  be  permanently  frozen  to  a  depth 
of  380  feet  deep.  The  subsoil  ice  is  sheltered  by  the  vege- 
tation and  the  peaty  soil  resting  on  it,  from  the  heat  of  the 
short  summers,  and  the  part  softened  by  the  summer's 
sun  is  refrozen  during  the  long  intensely  cold  winters.  It 
is  probable  that  under  the  present  climatic  conditions  a 
sheet  of  perennial  ice  would  be  formed  beneath  the  tundra, 
but  the  suggestion  that  the  ice  now  present  is  in  part  an 
inheritance  from  a  former  period  of  greater  cold  is  not 
without  support.  The' vegetation  of  the  tundra  grows 
each  year  at  the  surface,  while  the  partially  decayed  ma- 
terial below  is  frozen  and  preserved.  This  increase  in 
depth  of  the  vegetable  matter  is  much  the  same  as  the 
growth  of  peat  in  temperate  latitudes,  except  that  the 
partially  decayed  material  is  preserved  in  cold  storage.  It 
was  in  the  tundra  of  Siberia  that  the  completely  preserved 
bodies  of  the  mammoth  and  the  woolly  rhinoceros  have 
been  discovered.  Similar  finds  are  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
tundra  of  North  America,  where  the  bones  of  these  animals 
have  already  been  found. 

On  the  Pacific  border  of  the  continent  the  shores  are 
mostlv  bold,  and  coastal  plains  comparable  with  those  on 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       69 

its  eastern  and  northern  margins  are  absent.  In  southern 
California,  however,  in  the  vicinity  of  Los  Angeles,  a 
modern  and  apparently  local  elevation  of  the  land  has  pro- 
duced a  highly  fertile  plain,  now,  owing  to  the  magic  touch 
of  irrigation,  beautified  by  gardens  and  orchards. 

The  Piedmont  and  Coastal  Plateaus. — Adjacent  to  the 
western  margin  of  the  Atlantic  coastal  plain,  and  extend- 
ing from  Alabama  northward  to  New  England,  there  is  a 
plateau  region  about  150  miles  broad  in  its  central  part, 
but  narrowing  towards  its  extremities  so  as  to  be  from  40 
to  60  miles  broad  in  Maryland  and  New  Jersey,  and  of 
about  the  same  width  at  the  south,  in  Georgia.  The  slope 
of  the  plateau  surface  is  seaward  from  an  elevation  of  about 
1,000  feet  along  its  western  margin  to  250  or  300  feet  at 
the  fall  line  where  it  joins  the  coastal  plain. 

From  its  position  at  the  foot  of  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains this  moderately  elevated  plain  is  termed  the  Piedmont 
plateau.  The  same  plateau  extends  northeastward,  how- 
ever, where  it  is  known  as  the  New  England  plateau,  and 
is  without  any  definite  boundary  to  separate  it  from 
the  similar  region  in  the  maritime  provinces  of  Can- 
ada. While  local  divisions  of  this  great  extent  of  mod- 
erately elevated  plateau  country  are  recognised,  yet  in  a 
general  view  of  the  continent  it  is  evident  that  the  Pied- 
mont plateau,  the  New  England  plateau,  and  the  similar 
region,  mostly  of  crystalline  and  igneous  rocks,  extending 
from  Maine  to  Hudson  Strait  and  beyond,  in  reality  forms 
a  single  great  geographical  unit  in  which  the  geological 
structure  and  geographical  features  are  much  the  same. 
The  general  history  of  this  great  Atlantic  plateau,  as  it  may, 
perhaps,  be  termed,  shows  that  it  consists  mainly  of 
metamorphic  rocks,  such  as  mica  schist,  gneiss,  slates,  etc., 
together  with  granite  and  other  igneous  rock-,  and.  to  a 
minor  extent,  of  sandstones,  shales,  and  limestones,  mostly 
of  Jura-Trias  and  Carboniferous  age.  These  rocks  were  up- 
raised probably  in  pari  into  lofty  mountains,  and  then  worn 
down  by  erosion  nearly  to  sea-level,  thus  forming  what  is 
termed  a  peneplain,  or  a  plain  of  subaerial  denudation.  It 
is  not  intended  by  this  statemenl  to  imply  that  all  <>t  the 

6 


;o  NORTH    AMERICA 

Atlantic  plateau  was  ever  a  single  great  peneplain,  but  the 
same  general  history  seems  to  apply  to  the  entire  region. 
The  upheaval  of  the  plains  produced  by  erosion  gave  the 
streams  greater  energy,  and  they  have  begun  the  task  of 
again  reducing  the  land  to  sea-level,  but  have  not  as  yet 
broadened  their  valleys  so  as  to  greatly  modify  the  general 
plateau  character  of  the  region  they  traverse.  The  softer  or 
more  easily  soluble  rocks  have  been  eroded  away,  leaving 
broad  valleys,  as  in  the  several  instances  where  sandstones 
and  shales  of  what  is  known  as  the  Newark  system  (Jura- 
Trias)  occur  in  detached  areas  from  South  Carolina  to  Nova 
Scotia.  Then,  too,  from  northern  New  Jersey  northward 
to  Labrador  and  beyond,  great  glaciers  have  crossed  the 
plateau  or  developed  upon  its  broad  north  portion  and  have 
ground  down  its  surface  or  left  widely  extended  hills  and 
ridges  of  morainal  material  upon  it. 

Where  the  process,  just  referred  to,  of  planing  down  a 
tract  of  country  nearly  to  sea-level  is  incomplete  and  rem- 
nants of  former  uplands  still  remain  as  isolated  hills  or 
groups  of  hills,  such  inheritances  from  the  pre-peneplain 
stage  may  still  exist  when  the  region  is  elevated  into  a 
plateau  and  give  diversity  to  its  surface.  An  example  of 
such  a  residual  hill  is  furnished  by  Mount  Monadnock,  in 
southern  New  Hampshire,  and,  as  proposed  by  W.  M. 
Davis,  the  name  of  this  old  landmark  is  adopted  as  a  tech- 
nical term  by  which  to  designate  all  similar  remnants  of  old 
uplands  left  standing  on  a  peneplain.  On  the  Atlantic  pla- 
teau there  are  many  monadnocks.  They  range  in  size  from 
well-characterized  hills  to  mountain-like  forms,  and  may 
be  isolated  or  occur  in  groups.  When  a  monadnock  stands 
alone  its  history  may  be  easily  read,  but  groups  of  such 
eminences,  especially  when  of  large  size,  become  ranges 
of  hills  or  even  mountains,  and  may  preserve  so  much  of 
their  former  characteristics  that  they  outrank  the  adjacent 
peneplain  and  become  the  dominant  geographic  feature  of 
the  region  to  which  they  give  diversity.  Such  a  passage 
from  monadnocks  to  mountains  seems  to  be  furnished  by 
the  numerous  isolated  hills  on  the  Atlantic  plateau  and 
the  mountains  of  New  England  and  of  eastern  Canada. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       7l 

The  most  characteristic  portions  of  what  has  just  been 
termed  provisionally  the  Atlantic  plateau  are  the  Piedmont 
plateau,  which  skirts  the  east  base  of  the  Appalachian 
Mountains  from  Xew  York  to  central  Alabama  and  the 
Labrador  plateau.  The  eastern  border  of  the  Piedmont 
plateau  is  determined  by  the  fall  line  described  above,  where 
the  hard  crystalline  rocks  of  the  Piedmont  region  meet 
the  softer  rocks  of  the  Atlantic  coastal  plain.  The  rivers 
flowing  eastward  from  the  Appalachian,  such  as  the  Dela- 
ware, Susquehanna,  Potomac,  and  the  James,  cross  the  Pied- 
mont plateau  in  well-defined  but  narrow  channels,  usually 
from  ioo  to  200  feet  deep,  leaving  the  interstream  spaces 
with  generally  level  surfaces,  although  etched  as  it  were 
by  the  lateral  tributaries  of  the  master  streams.  These 
rivers  are  shallow  and  rapid  in  their  courses  across  the 
plateau,  or  in  somewhat  technical  geographical  language 
are  not  as  yet  graded,  but  on  crossing  the  fall  line  become 
sluggish  tide-water  streams  which  widen  into  estuaries,  as 
already  described.  Owing  to  the  warm  humid  climate  of 
this  region,  the  rocks  in  the  interstream  spaces  are  usually 
deeply  decayed  and  furnish  clay  soils  which  have  character- 
istic red  and  yellow  colours.  Much  of  the  cotton  and  to- 
bacco of  the  South  Atlantic  States  is  grown  on  these  resid- 
ual soils  which  were  left  as  the  more  soluble  portions  of  the 
rocks  were  removed  in  solution. 

Labrador,  although  in  great  part  unexplored,  is  known 
to  present  the  characteristic  features  of  an  irregular  plateau, 
with  a  general  elevation  of  1,500  to  2,000  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  surface  is  undulating  and  has  hills  and  hollows, 
the  latter  frequently  holding  lakes  and  swamps,  but  the 
inequalities  seldom  exceed  500  feet  in  vertical  range.  Al- 
though the  western  boundary  of  the  Labrador  plateau  is 
indefinite,  its  area  may  be  taken  at  about  500,000  square 
miles.  In  its  western  part,  and  apparently  rising  from 
the  plateau  as  a  group  of  residual  hills  left  by  erosion,  are 
the  so-called  Laurentian  or  Laurentide  Mountains.  The 
eastern  border  of  the  plateau  forms  the  bold  and  exo 
ivelv  rugged  Atlantic  coast-line  of  Labrador,  characterized 

by  steep  cliff  with  a  fringe  of  small  rocky  islands.      The  ad- 


72  NORTH    AMERICA 

jacent  sea  is  deep  and  the  continental  shelf  narrow.  On 
the  south  the  plateau  is  bordered  by  a  series  of  terraces 
which  lead  down  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  on  the 
west  it  merges  indefinitely  with  the  plains  of  the  conti- 
nental basin. 

The  rocks  of  Labrador  are  largely  metamorphic,  but 
include  ancient  igneous  intrusions,  and  are  hard  and  re- 
sistent.  The  present  surface  is  the  result  of  deep  erosion 
which  has  removed  a  great  but  unknown  thickness  of  ma- 
terial and  left  exposed  what  was  once  the  deeply  buried 
basal  portion  of  a  mountainous  region.  This  is  a  part  of 
the  oldest  known  land  of  the  continent,  and,  so  far  as  can 
be  learned,  has  never  been  covered  by  the  sea  since  a  very 
ancient  geological  period.  In  addition  to  the  long  eras  of 
erosion,  during  which  the  debris  removed  was  deposited 
in  part  farther  south,  and  contributed  to  the  formation  of 
the  stratified  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  region  and  interior 
continental  basin,  there  was  a  comparatively  recent  exten- 
sion of  great  glaciers  over  the  plateau  which  removed  the 
previously  disintegrated  and  decayed  rocks  and  left  the 
present  bare,  rounded,  and  generally  subdued  hills  with 
intervening  basins.  The  soils  are  thin,  for  the  reason  that 
under  the  present  climatic  conditions  rock  decay  is  re- 
tarded, and  are  confined  principally  to  the  depression  where 
peaty  material  has  accumulated.  Owing  to  the  lack  of 
soil  on  the  uplands,  the  excess  of  water  in  the  hollows, 
and  to  the  severity  of  the  climate,  the  forest  is  not  continu- 
ous, the  trees  are  small,  and  the  vegetation  generally  of  a 
subarctic  character.  This  vast  region  is  without  agricul- 
tural possibilities,  and  thus  far  has  been  of  value  to  man 
almost  solely  on  account  of  its  fur-bearing  animals  and 
the  fisheries  of  its  coast. 

The  northern  border  of  the  Atlantic  plateau  cannot  at 
present  be  accurately  defined.  Seemingly  it  should  include 
the  Arctic  archipelago,  which  provisionally  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a  deeply  dissected  plateau  region,  at  present  less 
elevated  than  formerly,  thus  allowing  the  sea  to  enter  the 
valleys  and  to  transform  old  uplands  into  islands.  The 
bold    and    highly    instructive    explorations    conducted    in 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       73 

recent  years  by  Robert  Bell,  for  the  Canadian  Geological 
Survey,  have  shown  that  in  the  region  adjacent  to  Hudson 
Strait  the  plateau  features  characteristic  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  Labrador  peninsula  are  absent  and  mountains  occur 
which  rank  as  the  highest  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  con- 
tinent. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  plateaus  corresponding  closely 
with  those  adjacent  to  or  bordering  the  Atlantic  are  want- 
ing. What  geographers  recognise  as  deeply  dissected 
plateaus,  so  extremely  rough  that  they  pass  for  mountain 
rano-es,  do  occur  on  the  western  border  of  the  continent, 
however,  and  will  be  described  later. 

THE    ATLANTIC    MOUNTAINS 

This  title  will  no  doubt  appear  novel  to  many  persons, 
and  is,  perhaps,  open  to  adverse  criticism,  but  it  serves  to 
unite  in  one  group  all  of  the  mountains  in  the  eastern  half 
of  North  America.  A  cordillera,  as  usually  defined,  con- 
sists of  two  or  more  mountain  chains  associated  geograph- 
ically, but  not  necessarily  of  the  same  age.  On  the  Atlantic 
border  of  the  continent  we  have  an  example  of  such  a  family 
of  mountains.  The  Atlantic  mountains,  although  compri- 
sing ranges,  systems,  etc.,  of  widely  different  ages,  are  all 
geologically  old,  and  have  resulted'  from  upheavals  along 
two  generally  parallel  and  slightly  overlapping  northeasl 
and  southwest  belts  adjacent  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The 
growth  of  this  group  of  mountains  is  believed  t<>  have  been 
from  the  north  southward,  and  several  periods  <>f  upheaval 
have  been  recognised. 

The  two  main  divisions  or  chains  referred  to  are 
separated  by  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  moun- 
tains at  the  north  are  known  as  the  Laurentides  or  Lauren- 
tian  Highlands,  and  those  at  the  so.uth  comprise  the  moun- 
tains of  New  Brunswick  and  Maine,  the  White  Mountains 
of  New  Hampshire,  the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont,  the 
Adirondack  Mountains  of  northeastern  New  York,  and  the 
Appalachians.  The  most  convenient  method  <>t  reviewing 
the  characteristics  and  histories  of  these  several  uplifts  is  t<» 


74  NORTH    AMERICA 

begin  with  the  Appalachians,  which  are  at  the  same  time 
the  most  important  and  best  known,  and  consider  them  in 
their  order  from  south  to  north. 

The  Appalachian  Mountains. — This  beautiful  and  fre- 
quently exceedingly  picturesque  series  of  long,  narrow 
ridges  separated  one  from  another  by  trough-like  valleys, 
constitutes  a  mountain  system  some  900  miles  long  and  50 
to  130  or  more  miles  wide  (Fig.  15).  The  truly  mountain- 
ous portion  in  its  widest  part,  in  western  North  Carolina 
and  eastern  Tennessee,  is  about  70  miles  across,  but  a 
portion  of  the  adjacent  plateau  on  the  west  partakes  of 
the  same  structural  features  and  is  a  part  of  the  Appala- 
chian uplift.  The  system  is  considered  as  extending  from 
the  Hudson  southward  to  central  Alabama  and  central 
Georgia.  At  the  north  its  terminus  is  indefinite, as  it  merges 
with  the  highlands  to  the  east  of  the  Hudson  and  with  the 
Berkshire  Hills  of  Massachusetts,  which  in  turn  are  not 
strictly  separable  from  the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont. 
At  the  south,  the  system  ends  somewhat  abruptly  where  the 
crystalline  rocks  comprising  its  southern  terminus  pass  be- 
neath the  soft  sediments  of  the  coastal  plain.  The  eastern 
border  of  the  system  is  well  defined  by  its  junction  with 
the  Piedmont  plateau,  but  on  the  west  it  merges  through 
a  series  of  lessening  folds  with  the  plateaus  and  plains  of 
the  eastern  border  of  the  interior  continental  basin.  The 
Alleghany  plateau,  which  skirts  the  western  border  of  what 
is  usually  recognised  as  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  but 
which  is  really  its  moderately  disturbed  border,  extends 
from  the  Hudson  to  Alabama,  and  in  its  various  portions 
is  known  by  distinct  names.  Its  northern  extension  over- 
looking the  Hudson  forms  the  Catskill  Mountains;  farther 
south  it  becomes  locally  the  Alleghany  plateau,  and  still 
farther  south  the  Cumberland  plateau.  Separating  the 
bold  eastern  escarpment  of  this  series  of  plateaus  from  the 
generally  higher  mountains  to  the  eastward  lies  the  great 
Appalachian  Valley,  which  under  various  names  extends 
from  the  Hudson  to  central  Alabama.  This  important 
and  highly  fruitful  valley  is  underlaid  to  a  great  extent  by 
thick  bedded  limestones  and  soft  shales,  and  owes  its  exist- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       75 

ence  to  erosion  and  largely  to  the  removal  of  limestone 
in  solution. 

The  Appalachians  are  nowhere  lofty,  and  only  approach 
the  characteristics  of  great  mountains  in  their  southern 
portion.  The  culminating  summit  is  Mount  Mitchell,  in 
western  North  Carolina,  which  has  an  elevation  of  o^^ii- 
feet.  Roan  Mountain,  27  miles  to  the  northward  of  Mount 
Mitchell,  rises  6,287  feet  above  the  sea.  In  the  neighbour- 
ing Unaka  and  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  to  the  southwest 
and  west  of  Mount  Mitchell,  there  are  many  boldly  rounded 
domes  ranging  in  height  from  5.000  to  over  6,000  feet. 
Northward  of  the  highly  picturesque  southern  Appala- 
chians, the  system  decreases  in  height  and  is  really  a  deeply 
dissected  plateau,  as  will  be  shown  later,  in  which  the  long, 
even-crested  ridges  have  a  general  elevation  of  4,000  feet 
in  Virginia  and  about  2,000  feet  in  Pennsylvania  and  Xew 
Jersey.  At  its  northern  extension  in  Xew  York  it  decreases 
still  more  in  height,  and  is  surpassed  in  elevation  by  the 
plateau  on  the  west,  there  represented  by  the  Catskill 
Mountains,  the  highest  portion  of  which  is  3,660  feet 
above  the  sea. 

The  characteristic  structural  feature  of  the  Appalachians 
is  the  presence  of  a  great  series  of  up  and  down  folds,  or 
anticlinals  and  synclinals  as  geologists  term  them,  which 
run  in  a  nearly  parallel  northeast  and  southwest  direction, 
but  in  Pennsylvania  especially  exhibit  many  broad  curves 
in  their  general  course.  These  folds  are  similar  to  the 
waves  that  may  be  produced  in  a  heavy  rug  or  carpet  Im- 
pressing against  one  of  its  margins.  The  rocks  have  been 
thrown  into  a  series  of  great  wrinkles  which  are  not  con- 
tinuous throughout  the  length  of  the  system,  but  as  one 
dies  out  another  takes  its  place.  The  folds  overlap  at  the 
ends  or  are  arranged  en  echelon.  The  longer  axes  of  the 
folds  are  seldom  horizontal,  but  have  usually  a  gentle-  pitch; 
for  this  reason  one  end  of  a  fold  frequentl)  passes  beneath 
the  surface,  while  the  oilier  end  is  exposed  t"  erosion.  An- 
other characteristic  is  that  the  anticlinals,  as  a  rule,  are  steep 
on  their  western  margins,  and  slope  more  gently  on  then 
eastern  flanks,  or  are  unsymmetrical:     The  overturning  <>t 


76  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  folds  where  most  pronounced  has  led  to  the  breaking 
of  the  rocks  on  the  west  side  of  an  upward  wrinkle  where 
the  descending  limb  of  an  anticlinal  is  sharply  bent  in  order 
to  pass  into  the  ascending  limb  of  the  adjacent  synclinal. 
These  breaks  or  faults  in  certain  instances  form  thrust  planes 
along  which  one  portion  of  a  series  of  beds  has  been  car- 
ried westward,  sometimes  for  several  miles,  over  another 
portion  of  the  same  series.  This  highly  characteristic  sys- 
tem of  unsymmetrical  folds,  passing  at  times,  and  especially 
in  Tennessee  and  Alabama^  into  great  thrust  planes,  is  ac- 
counted for  on  the  general  theory  that  there  has  been 
lateral  pressure  or  a  tangential  thrust,  which  has  forced  the 
strata  into  a  series  of  elongated  arches,  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  in  the  case  of  a  rug,  as  above  suggested,  one 
margin  of  which  has  been  forced  by  lateral  pressure  towards 
its  central  part. 

The  rocks  composing  the  greater  portion  of  the  Appa- 
lachians are  stratified  marine  sediment  such  as  sandstone, 
shale,  limestone,  etc.,  which  were  laid  down  one  on  an- 
other until  a  great  depth  was  attained,  corresponding, 
as  we  may  fancy,  to  a  pile  of  rugs,  the  original  thickness 
in  Pennsylvania  being  about  40,000  feet.  Lateral  pres- 
sure resulting,  as  it  is  believed,  from  the  cooling  and  con- 
sequent contraction  of  the  earth's  highly  heated  interior, 
and  the  movement  of  the  cool  and  rigid  crust  in  order  to 
keep  in  contact  with  the  shrinking  mass  beneath,  has  led  to 
the  folding  and  occasional  breaking  of  the  rocks,  which  at 
the  same  time  were  elevated  above  the  sea.  A  crushing 
together  or  folding  of  the  rocks  similar  to  that  which  has 
taken  place  along  the  central  part  of  the  Atlantic  border 
of  North  America,  as  is  well  known,  has  occurred  also  in 
many  other  regions,  and  the  Appalachians  may  be  taken  as 
the  type  of  a  class  of  mountains,  sometimes  termed  corru- 
gated mountains,  which  includes  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees, 
the  Coast  Range  of  California,  etc.  For  convenience  we 
may  speak  of  such  mountains  as  being  of  the  Appalachian 
type. 

Had  the  folding  in  the  Appalachian  region  gone  on 
without  erosion,  the  surface  would  to-day  be  a  series  of 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       77 

great,  elongated  arches  or  upward  folds,  rising  in  many 
instances  5,000  or  more  feet  above  the  intervening  valleys, 
and  where  breaks  or  faults  occur  their  upraised  borders 
would  stand  as  mighty  cliffs,  in  some  localities  a  mile  or 
more  high.  The  central  part  of  the  region  with  this  strange 
topography  had  there  been  no  erosion  would,  perhaps,  be 
fully  as  prominent  as  the  Himalayan  Mountains  are  at  pres- 
ent. Xo  sooner,  however,  were  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
upraised  above  the  sea  than  the  destructive  agencies  of  the 
atmosphere  began  their  attacks  upon  them.  The  rocks  were 
shattered  by  changes  of  temperature,  and  at  times  at  least 
crumbled  by  the  freezing  of  absorbed  water  and  also  under- 
went chemical  changes  which  softened  and  disintegrated 
them.  The  rains  beat  upon  them,  and  streams  flowing  to 
the  sea  cut  channels  and  carried  away  the  material  forming 
the  land.  These  processes  of  disintegration  and  erosion  have 
been  in  progress  since  islands  and  continents  first  appeared 
on  the  earth,  and  every  mountain  range  now  giving  diver- 
sity to  the  surface  of  the  land  represents  the  net  result  of 
elevation  over  denudation.  The  Appalachians  are  not  an 
exception,  but  a  typical  illustration  of  this  general  law. 
The  great  folds  of  which  they  are  composed  have  been 
truncated  by  erosion  and  the  surfaces  thus  produced,  etched, 
as  it  were,  by  the  action  of  the  air,  rain,  and  by  streams,  so 
as  to  leave  the  edges  of  the  more  resistant  layers  in  relief. 

One  conspicuous  result  in  this  general  process  of  erosi*  >n 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  folded  strata  consist  in  many  in- 
stances of  alternating  hard,  or  insoluble  and  soft,  or  readily 
soluble  layers.  Where  resistant  layers  underlaid  by  suit,  or 
readily  soluble  strata  formed  the  summits  of  arches  they 
have  in  many  instances  been  broken  in  the  process  of  fold- 
ing or  cut  through  by  streams  flowing  down  their  flanks 
and  the  weak  beds  beneath  exposed.  Alter  this  stage  was 
reached  the  erosion  of  the  upward  folds  went  on  more 
rapidly  than  the  removal  of  rock  from  the  compressed 
downward  folds,  so  that  what  i-  structurally  a  ridge  be- 
came a  valley;  while  the  bordering  troughs  or  synclinals 
floored  with  hard  layers  were  left  in  relief  as  ridges  or  table- 
lands.    The  anticlinal  ridges  have  thus  been  transformed 


78  NORTH    AMERICA 

into  topographic  valleys  and  the  original  synclinal  troughs 
left  in  relief  as  plateaus  and  ridges. 

This  reversion  of  what  would  have  been  ridges  and 
troughs  had  there  been  no  erosion,  is  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing cross-section  through  Lookout  Mountain  in  Ala- 
bama, which  is  an  example  of  what  is  known  as  a  synclinal 


Murphrre  Covt.  •■' 

i         ;"-N  \  Sand  Kit.  \  Wills-Valley 


Fig.  16. — Section  of  anticlinal  valleys  and  synclinal  mountains. 

mountain.  Many  such  synclinal  mountains  or  plateaus, 
separated  by  narrower  anticlinal  valleys,  occur  throughout 
the  Appalachians. 

The  characteristics  in  the  present  topography  of  the 
Appalachians  just  considered  are  but  a  minor  portion  of 
the  great  changes  that  have  resulted  from  erosion.  The 
history  of  the  system  has  not  been  the  same  in  this  connec- 
tion throughout,  but  retains  evidences  of  successive  up- 
ward movements  with  long  periods  of  erosion  intervening 
which  have  produced  certain  striking  differences  in  its 
northern  and  southern  portions.  These  differences  are 
so  well  marked  that  it  is  convenient  to  divide  the  system 
into  two  portions,  termed  the  northern  Appalachians  and 
southern  Appalachians.  The  most  conspicuous  difference 
between  the  two  is  shown  by  the  direction  of  flow  of  the 
larger  rivers.  At  the  north,  the  principal  rivers — the  Dela- 
ware. Susquehanna,  Potomac,  and  James — rise  well  to  the 
west  of  the  mountains  and  flow  southeast  athwart  the 
numerous  folds,  and  after  crossing  the  Piedmont  plateau 
and  coastal  plain  discharge  into  the  Atlantic.  At  the  south, 
however,  the  rivers,  particularly  Xew  River  and  the  Ten- 
nessee, rise  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Appalachians  and 
flow  westward,  cutting  through  the  Alleghany  plateau,  and 
are  tributary  to  the  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
The  somewhat  arbitrary  dividing  line  between  these  two 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       79 

provinces  follows  the  divide  to  the  north  of  New  River, 
or  in  a  general  way,  as  has  been  stated  by  C.  W,  Haw-, 
is  marked  by  a  line  drawn  from  the  most  easterly  point  of 
Kentucky  southeastward  to  Cape  Fear,  on  the  Atlantic 
coast. 

The  fact  that  several  large  rivers  rising  to  the  north- 
west of  the  northern  Appalachians  flow  directly  across  or 
through  the  numerous  ridges  composing  the  system  in 
deep,  narrow  valleys,  and  the  similar  behaviour  of  the 
streams  rising  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  southern  Ap- 
palachians, but  flowing  westward,  are  among  the  most  in- 
teresting features  of  the  entire  region.  Why  is  it  that  the 
mountains  have  not  formed  a  divide  or  water  parting  so 
as  to  force  all  of  the  streams  having  their  sources  on  its 
west  side  to  take  what  would  seem  the  easier  course,  and 
to  flow  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  cause  the  waters  falling 
on  its  eastern  slopes  to  flow  to  the  Atlantic?  The  answer 
to  this  apparently  puzzling  question  has  been  furnished 
by  Davis,  Willis,  Hayes,  Campbell,  and  others,  who  have 
shown  that  the  mountains  were  not  raised  all  at  once,  but 
experienced  upward  movements  at  widely  separated  in- 
tervals, with  intervening  periods  of  rest  during  which  the 
elevations  previously  produced  were  more  or  less  com- 
pletely planed  away  by  erosion.  During  one  of  these  in- 
tervals the  north  Appalachians  more  especially  were  worn 
down  to  approximately  sea-level  and  a  gently  sloping  plain 
produced  across  which  the  larger  rivers  flowed  to  the 
Atlantic.  This  peneplain  was  later  upraised  into  a  plateau 
and  it-  downward  inclination  towards  the  east  increased. 
The  streams  were  thus  given  greater  energy  and  began 
again  to  deepen  their  channels.  They  held  their  right  of 
way  acquired  on  the  featureless  erosion  plain  and  cut  deep 
trenches  through  the  edge-  < »f  tin-  hard  layers  which  en  >ssed 
their  courses.  At  the  same  time  lateral  branches  were  de- 
veloped which  followed  the  outcrops  "i  the  less  resistant 
beds  and  eroded  them  away  s<>  as  to  leave  the  hard  beds 
in    bold    relief.       As    the    edges    Of    the    more    resistant    beds 

became  more  and  more  prominenl  the  eastward  flowing 
stream-  cul  deeper  and  deeper  into  them,    The  even  sum- 


So  NORTH    AMERICA 

mits  of  the  ridges,  one  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the 
beautiful  scenery  of  the  Appalachians,  still  mark  the  posi- 
tion of  the  elevated  erosion  plain. 

In  the  southern  Appalachian  the  old  erosion  plain 
formed  nearly  at  sea-level  was  tilted  gently  westward,  and 
the  streams  flowing  over  its  surface  given  initial  courses  in 
that  direction,  which  were  maintained  as  they  deepened 
their  channels,  and  on  account  of  increased  energy  origi- 
nating from  the  upraising  of  the  region  drained  by  them, 
developed  lateral  branches,  as  is  the  case  of  the  more  north- 
ern streams  just  referred  to,  and  the  process  of  carving 
away  the  land  to  sea-level  was  again  renewed. 

Portions  of  the  original  upland  or  mountain  mass  left 
unconsumed  during  the  long  period  of  planation.  which 
reduced  most  of  the  region  nearly  to  sea-level,  still  remain 
in  eastern  Tennessee,  western  North  Carolina,  and  north- 
ern Georgia,  and  form  the  highest  and  most  picturesque 
portion  of  the  Appalachians. 

After  the  upraised  peneplain  from  which  the  long,  even- 
crested  ridges  of  the  Appalachians  were  produced  by  the 
excavation  of  the  bordering  valleys  had  been  deeply  dis- 
sected and  the  valleys  broadened,  another  upward  move- 
ment took  place  and  the  streams  again  deepened  their 
valleys.  This  is  the  stage  in  which  we  now  find  the  moun- 
tains. The  crests  of  the  ridges,  characteristically  displayed 
in  eastern  Pennsylvania,  are  portions  of  the  first  peneplain 
of  whch  a  definite  record  is  preserved,  while  the  broad 
valleys  with  sharply  cut  channels  in  their  bottoms  repre- 
sent the  much  less  complete  second  stage  of  planation. 

The  two  ancient  peneplains  referred  to  above,  the  his- 
tories of  which  are  recorded  in  the  topography,  have 
received  definite  names  in  order  that  they  may  be  readily 
designated.  The  older  and  higher  one  is  termed  the 
Schooley  peneplain  1  on  account  of  the  preservation  of  a 
typical  portion  at  Schooley  Mountain  in  New  Jersey,  while 
the  lower  one,  represented  by  the  broad  valley  through 

1  Also  known  as  the  "  Kittatinny  peneplain,"  but  the  name  used 
above  has  priority. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       Si 

which  flows  the  Shenandoah  River,  Virginia,  is  known  as 
the  Shenandoah  peneplain.  A  generalized  profile  in  a 
northwest  and  southeast  direction  through  a  portion  of  the 
Appalachians  is  shown  in  the  following  diagram,  which 
will  serve  to  make  more  definite  the  description  just  given. 
The  highest  summits  in  the  diagram  represent  portions 
of  the  Schooley  peneplain;  if  the  depressions  could  lie 
refilled  the  surface  of  the  great  plateau  formed  by  the 
elevation  of  this  plain  would  be  restored.  The  bottoms 
of  the  broad  depressions  represent  the  Shenandoah  pene- 
plain, which  is  sharply  trenched  by  the  modern  river 
channels. 

The  Appalachians  thus  furnish  not  only  a  typical  ex- 
ample of  a  mountain  system  produced  by  the  folding  and 
upheaval  of  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust,  accompanied  in 
many  localities  by  breaks  or  faults  and  overthrusts,  but  also 


Fig.  17. — Generalized  east-and-west  profile  showing  relation  of 
peneplains. 

preserve  the  records  of  two  well-characterized  peneplains. 
The  long  and  varied  history  of  the  range  has  been  in  part 
interpreted  by  geologists  from  the  character  of  the  rocks, 
the  fossils  they  contain,  and  the  structure  that  has  been 
impressed  upon  them;  but  some  of  the  most  instructive 
chapters  are  recorded  in  the  topography,  and  their  study 
has  led  to  a  highly  creditable  advance  in  methods  of  geo- 
graphical research. 

The  Appalachian  Mountains  when  first  scon  by  Euro- 
peans were  clothed  throughout  with  a  varied  and  beauti- 
ful forest  consisting  largely  of  hardwood  trees.  Nowhere 
do  they  invade  the  region  of  perpetual  snow,  and  glaciers 
are  absent.  These  statements  are  true  also  for  all  oi  the 
mountains  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  COntinenl  to  the  south 
of  I  ludson  Strait. 

The  Appalachians  abound  in  beautiful  scenery,  but.  ex- 
cept about  a  few  of  the  very  highest  d< >mes  and  ridges,  have 


82  NORTH    AMERICA 

little  of  the  stern  ruggedness  which  is  typical  of  truly  great 
mountains.  Their  countless  valleys  are  now  mostly  cleared 
of  their  primitive  forests  and  under  cultivation.  To  a  large 
extent  also  even  the  steep  hillsides  are  tilled.  The  larger 
trees  which  formerly  grew  on  the  mountains  have  nearly 
all  been  felled,  and  where  the  land  is  not  suitable  for  culti- 
vation their  place  is  taken  by  a  dense  second  growth. 
Under  the  mild,  humid  climate  that  prevails,  more  es- 
pecially from  the  vicinity  of  the  Susquehanna  River  south- 
ward, the  rocks  are  deeply  disintegrated  and  decayed,  and 
even  steep  mountain  sides  are  mantled  with  soil  and  rock 
debris.  It  is  the  excess  of  disintegration  and  decay  over 
erosion  which  gives  to  the  mountains  their  usually  flowing 
outlines  and  pleasingly  picturesque  rather  than  rugged  sce- 
nery. The  valleys  still  retain  much  of  the  material  washed 
from  the  uplands,  and  are  deeply  floored  with  rich  soil.  The 
characteristic  colours  of  this  decayed  rock-waste  are  many 
shades  of  red  and  yellow,  which  harmonize  in  a  most  artistic 
manner  with  the  prevailing  green  of  the  plant-covered  up- 
lands and  abandoned  fields.  These  red  and  yellow  soils, 
particularly  about  the  bases  of  the  higher  summits  of  the 
southern  Appalachians,  afford  abundant  crops  of  cotton, 

\corn  (maize),  and  tobacco. 
^  The  Mountains  of  New  England,  New  York,  New  Bruns- 
wick, etc. — The  picturesque  Berkshire  Hills,  in  the  western 
portion  of  Massachusetts,  have  rounded  and  flowing  out- 
lines and  a  generally  subdued  relief.  The  more  prominent 
of  these  greatly  eroded  remnants  of  what  was  once  a  moun- 
tain range  rise  but  2,000  to  3.500  feet  above  the  sea.  No 
satisfactory  boundary  between  these  hills  of  gneiss,  schist, 
and  allied  metamorphic  rocks,  and  the  others  of  the  same 
general  character  in  the  neighbouring  portions  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  has  been  determined.  So  far  as 
the  relief  is  concerned,  and  so  far  also  as  the  complex  geo- 
logical history  has  been  deciphered,  there  seems  no  good 
reason  for  separating  the  Berkshire  Hills  from  the  Ap- 
palachian Mountains.  It  is  convenient,  however,  to  con- 
sider the  Appalachians  as  terminating  at  the  Hudson. 
The  Berkshire  Hills  when  traced  northward  mersre  with  a 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       83 

region  of  similar  topography  which  unites  them  with  the 
Green  Mountains  of  Vermont,  the  highest  summit  of  which, 
Mount  Mansfield,  attains  an  elevation  of  4,364  feet  above 
the  sea.  To  the  east  of  the  Green  Mountains  are  situated 
the  still  higher  and  more  rugged  White  Mountains  of  New 
Hampshire,  which  culminate  in  Mount  Washington. 
This  widely  known  and  greatly  admired  peak  has  an  eleva- 
tion of  6,293  feet,  and,  next  to  Mount  Mitchell  in  the 
southern  Appalachians,  is  the  highest  mountain  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  continent  to  the  south  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered group  of  peaks  near  Hudson  Strait.  Associated 
with  Mount  Washington  are  at  least  15  peaks,  each  of 
which  is  over  5,000  feet  high,  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
lesser  summits  which  exceed  4,000  feet  in  elevation  above 
the  sea.  The  remarkable  natural  beauties  of  the  Green  and 
White  Mountains,  the  ease  with  which  they  can  be  reached 
by  means  of  railroads,  and  the  numerous  summer  hotels 
and  hospitable  farmhouses  interspersed  among  them,  make 
this,  the  most  mountainous  portion  of  New  England, 
a  favourite  region  for  summer  rest  and  recreation.  The 
Green  and  White  Mountains  are  nearly  parallel  north  and 
south  ranges,  from  30  to  60  miles  apart,  and  separated  by 
a  tract  of  lower  but  hilly  country  with  a  generally  southern 
slope,  where  many  streams  unite  to  form  the  southward- 
flowing  Connecticut  River. 

The  Adirondack  Mountains,  in  northeastern  New  York, 
are  situated  some  25  miles  to  the  west  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains, and  separated  from  them  by  another  tract  of  hilly 
country  similar  to  the  one  dividing  the  mountains  of  Ver- 
mont from  those  of  New  Hampshire.  In  this  space  lies 
the  irregular  sheet  of  water  over  100  miles  long  known  as 
Lake  Champlain.  This  beautiful  lake  discharges  north- 
ward through  Richelieu  River  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  In 
the  same  tract  of  hills,  but  to  the  southward  of  Lake 
Champlain  .and  tributary  to  it,  lies  the  smaller  bul  still  more 
charming  Lake  George. 

The  Adirondack^  are  rudely  circular  in  -round  plan, 
and  measure  From  60  to  70  miles  from  easl  to  west,  and 
about   [oo  miles  from  north  to  south.     The  entire  area. 


84  NORTH    AMERICA 

known  to  the  early  settlers  of  New  York  State  as  the  North 
Woods,  is  rugged  and  most  pleasingly  diversified.  Its 
leading  charms  are  the  large  number  of  dark,  densely 
forested  summits,  the  many  beautiful  lakes  and  clear,  spark- 
ling streams.  The  highest  of  the  numerous  steep-sided 
peaks  is  Mount  Marcy,  5,344  feet,  and  second  in  rank 
is  the  equally  beautiful  eminence  known  as  Whiteface, 
which  rises  4.872  feet  above  the  sea  and  about  3,000 
feet  above  the  adjacent  valleys.  Over  20  neighbour- 
ing forest-covered  summits  have  elevations  in  excess  of 
4,000  feet. 

The  rugged  region  in  northeastern  New  York  and  the 
adjacent  portion  of  New  England  is  in  general  without 
well-marked  boundaries.  On  the  north  it  extends  into 
Canada,  and  is  margined  by  the  great  valley  through  which 
flows  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  the  province  of  Ottawa,  to  the 
south  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  there  is  a  group  of  bold  hills 
similar  in  many  ways  to  the  Green  Mountains,  known  as 
the  Notre  Dame  Mountains,  which  decreases  in  height 
when  traced  northward  and  merge  with  a  roughened 
plateau  which  extends  far  to  the  northeast  and  embraces 
the  Gaspe  Peninsula  and  the  table-land  and  hills  of  New 
Brunswick.  Much  of  the  country  adjacent  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  on  the  south  is  rolling  and  hilly  and  contains 
large  tracts  of  rich  agricultural  land  which  is  highly 
favourable  for  dairying  and  sheep-raising.  Mount  Sutton, 
the  highest  elevation  in  the  Notre  Dame  Mountains,  is 
4,000  feet  high,  and  several  other  forest-covered  moun- 
tain-like hills  range  in  elevation  from  1,000  to  3,000  feet. 
In  the  irregular  valleys  of  this  region  there  are  a  large 
number  of  lakes,  situated  in  general  from  700  to  1,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  Gaspe  Peninsula  to  the  north  of  New 
Brunswick,  bordered  on  the  north  by  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  on  the  east  by  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence,  has 
a  rough  relief  and  dense  forests  and  is  still  a  wilderness.  The 
general  elevation  of  the  uplands  in  this  little  known  region 
is  about  1,500  feet.  The  surface  is  in  reality  a  broad  plateau 
in  which  numerous  valleys  have  been  excavated  and  from 
which  rises  a  range  of  hills  termed  the  Shikshock  Moun- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       85 

tains,  some  65  miles  long  and  4  or  5  miles  wide,  with  peaks 
ranging  from  3,000  to  4,000  feet  in  height. 

Much  of  Maine  and  New  Brunswick  is  similar  to  the 
region  just  referred  to,  and,  in  a  generalized  geographical 
view,  may  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the  great  coastal 
plateau  of  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  continent,  rough- 
ened by  erosion  so  as  to  appear  to  one  travelling  through  its 
valleys  as  an  endless  succession  of  rugged  hills.  The 
highest  of  the  numerous  prominences  in  Maine  is  Mount 
Katahdin,  5,200  feet,  and  in  New  Brunswick  the  culmina- 
ting summit  is  Bald  Mountain,  2,470  feet. 

The  rugged  region  embracing  the  Adirondacks,  to- 
gether with  the  more  elevated  portions  of  New  England 
and  of  the  adjacent  provinces  of  Canada,  has  many  geo- 
graphical features  that  are  similar  to  those  of  the  southern 
Appalachians,  but  at  the  same  time  this,  the  central  portion, 
differs  in  a  marked  way  from  the  southern  extension  of 
the  Atlantic  mountains.  The  higher  mountains  in  each 
of  these  picturesque  regions  are  at  least  in  a  general  way  to 
be  considered  as  the  unconsumed  remnants  of  ancient  up- 
lands, the  greater  part  of  which  have  been  eroded  away. 
The  most  marked  contrast  in  the  scenery  of  these  two 
regions  of  similar  elevation  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  great 
number  of  lakes  at  the  north,  many  of  them  of  large  size, 
and  the  total  absence  of  such  beautifying  elements  in  the 
landscapes  at  the  south.  The  streams  at  the  north  are 
frequently  impetuous  and  broken  by  many  cataracts  and 
rapid-,  thus  furnishing  abundant  water-power;  while  at 
the  south  the  streams  flow  through  more  evenly  graded 
channels  and  are  without  cascades  except  near  their  sources 
in  the  mountains.  These  contrasts  arc  such  as  are  to  be 
found  the  world  over  between  regions  of  young  and  old 
topography.  The  differences  in  the  degree  of  development 
reached  by  the  streams  of  the  New  England  region  as  con- 
trasted with  those  of  the  southern  Appalachians,  finds 
an  explanation  in  the  fact  that  New  England,  Canada,  etc.. 
was  formerly  covered  with  glacial  ice,  and  on  the  retreal 
of  the  glaciers  the  surface  of  the  land  was  left  with  an  es- 
sentially new  relief,  while  the  southern  Appalachians  were 

7 


86  NORTH    AMERICA 

well  to  the  south  of  the  great  ice  invasion,  and  the  streams 
of  that  region  have  reached  a  mature  development,  ex- 
cept near  the  sources  of  their  head  water  branches,  which, 
like  the  topmost  twigs  of  a  tree,  are  always  young. 

The  central,  like  the  southern  portion  of  the  Atlantic 
mountains,  is  forest-clothed.  All  but  a  few  of  the  highest 
summits  in  the  Adirondack  and  White  Mountains  are  con- 
cealed beneath  a  dense  and  varied  growth  of  trees  and 
shrubs.  The  summits,  which  are  nearly  bare  of  vegetation, 
like  the  upper  800  or  1,000  feet  of  Mount  Washington, 
owe  this  condition  to  lack  of  soil  rather  than  to  elevation. 
Nowhere  in  the  Atlantic  mountains  to  the  south  of  the  but 
little  known  peaks  near  Hudson  Strait,  is  the  elevation  suf- 
ficient to  reach  above  what  would  be  the  timber  line  under 
favourable  soil  conditions.  The  trees  of  the  White  and 
neighbouring  mountains  are  principally  various  species  of 
conifers,  such  as  the  pine,  spruce,  hemlock,  larch,  etc.,  which 
grow  thickly  on  all  but  the  most  precipitous  slopes.  Before 
man  disfigured  the  beauties  of  the  land  the  lower  hills,  the 
river  valleys,  and  the  borders  of  the  numerous  lakes  and 
tarns  were  clothed  with  a  more  varied  flora  than  the  uplands. 
In  these  valley  forests  the  dark  foilage  of  evergreens  is  in 
summer  mingled  with  the  lighter  green  of  maples,  beeches, 
birches,  oaks,  locusts,  and  other  broad-leaf  trees.  The  for-=- 
ests  are  thus  highly  diversified  and  partake  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  both  the  northern  and  southern  floras.  It  is  in 
these  northern  woods  that  the  glorious  autumnal  colour- 
ing for  which  North  America  is  justly  famous  is  to  be  seen 
in  its  greatest  splendour.  October  is  here  truly  the  golden 
month  of  the  year.  At  that  season  the  bold  hills,  with 
their  sombre  robes  of  coniferous  trees,  rise  like  dark  rugged 
islands  above  an  undulating  sea  from  which  the  most  gor- 
geous sunset  colours  seem  to  be  reflected.  The  brilliant 
colouring  of  the  ripe  foliage  beautifies  the  land  as  with  a 
cloth  of  gold.  It  is  at  this  season  also,  during  the  tranquil 
days  of  what  is  known  as  Indian  Summer,  that  a  purple 
haze  is  thrown  like  a  veil  over  the  harlequin  landscape,  as  if 
to  subdue  its  glories  and  bring  them  within  the  range  of 
man's  appreciation. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       S7 

Only  a  few  of  the  higher  summits  in  the  New  England 
region  approach  the  scenic  conditions  usually  associated 
with  truly  lofty  mountains.  In  fact,  the  general  lack  of 
rugged  escarpments  as  well  as  of  great  elevation  leads  the 
geographer  to  rank  even  the  highest  of  these  rounded  sum- 
mits as  hills  of  large  size  rather  than  attempt  to  burden 
them  with  the  dignity  that  the  term  mountain  carries  with 
it.  They  are  beautiful  hills,  separated  one  from  another 
by  lovely  valleys,  which  draw  the  beholder  to  them  and  fill 
his  memory  with  tender  longings  and  vague  dreamy  fancies 
such  as  the  sterner  grandeurs  of  great  mountains  fail  to 
awaken. 

The  Laurentian  Highlands. — A  vast  area  in  the  eastern 
portion  of  Canada,  to  the  north  of  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  including  Labrador,  is  underlaid  by  very  ancient 
crystalline  rocks  of  the  same  general  character  as  those 
forming  the  Adirondack's.  This  same  geological  system, 
the  Archean,  has  a  wide  development  in  the  continental 
basin  to  the  north  of  Lake  Superior  and  about  Hudson  Bay. 
To  the  north  of  Quebec,  in  the  region  drained  by  the 
Saguenay  and  Ottawa  Rivers,  the  land  has  a  general  eleva- 
tion of  1,500  to  1,600  feet,  and  is  known  as  the  Laurentian 
Highlands,  although  sometimes  dignified  by  the  name 
Laurentian  Mountains,  or,  more  briefly,  as  the  Lauren- 
tides.  In  reality,  this  broad,  indefinitely  defined  region  from 
a  geographical  point  of  view  is  a  roughened  plateau  and  not 
a  mountain  range  or  group  of  ranges.  When  the  structure 
and  metamorphosed  condition  of  the  rocks  are  considered, 
however,  it  is  found  that  they  have  the  characteristics 
pertaining  to  the  central  and  more  deeply  seated  portions 
of  true  mountains.  The  rocks  are  mainly  crystalline  schist, 
gneiss,  granite,  etc.,  together  with  igneous  intrusions,  all 
of  which  have  been  intensely  folded,  crumpled,  and  broken. 
The  general  interpretation  of  the  existing  conditions  is  that 
deep  erosion  has  occurred  and,  in  fact,  a  mountain  range 
or  a  mountain  chain  worn  down  to  a  generally  plane  surface. 
The  thickness  of  the  rocks  thus  removed,  or  the  depth  oi 
erosion,  is  unknown,  and  owing  niainh  to  the  complexity 
of  the  geological  structure  of  the  terrenes  remaining,  will 


88  NORTH    AMERICA 

perhaps  never  be  ascertained,  but  can  be  safely  estimated 
as  not  only  hundreds,  but  several  thousands  of  feet.  Ero- 
sion has  laid  bare  portions  of  the  earth's  crust  which 
were  once  deeply  buried,  and  reveals  the  character  of  the 
"  basement  complex,"  as  it  has  been  termed,  which  forms 
the  foundation  of  the  continent.  Owing  to  the  great  age 
of  the  rocks  and  the  depth  to  which  they  were  once  de- 
pressed in  the  earth's  crust,  they  have  experienced  great 
changes.  They  are  not  only  intensely  folded  and  crushed, 
but  in  large  part  have  been  caused  to  flow  under  great 
pressure,  and  have  thus  acquired  a  schistose  structure.  Fis- 
sures have  been  filled  with  molten  rock  injected  from  below 
so  as  to  form  dikes,  and  possibly  still  greater  or  regional  in- 
trusions have  occurred.  Over  large  areas  the  amount  of 
once  molten  and  intruded  rock  exceeds  the  surface  expo- 
sure of  what  are  usually,  but  with  some  hesitation,  classed  as 
metamorphosed  sediments. 

Long  exposure  to  the  air  in  a  region  of  mild  relief  is 
usually  accompanied  by  the  formation  of  a  deep  soil.  The 
soil  over  the  Laurentian  Highlands,  however,  is  generally 
thin,  and  large  areas  of  bare  rock  are  exposed.  The  ex- 
planation of  this  apparent  anomaly  is  that  glaciers  during 
a  geologically  recent  period  were  formed  on  this  region 
and  flowed  away  from  it,  carrying  most  of  the  previously 
formed  rock  debris  with  them.  The  time  since  the  melting 
of  the  glaciers  has  been  too  short  for  a  new  soil  to  form, 
except  in  the  valleys  and  depressions  among  the  bare 
glaciated  hills,  which  hold  a  peaty  accumulation  resulting 
from  the  partial  decay  of  vegetation.  The  scarcity  of  soil 
is  also  due  in  part  to  the  climatic  conditions  now  prevailing, 
which  are  unfavourable  to  rapid  rock  decay. 

To  the  north  of  the  Laurentian  Highlands  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Hudson  Strait,  the  land  becomes  higher,  and  as 
recently  reported  by  Robert  Bell,  of  the  Canadian  Geo- 
logical Survey,  forms  true  mountains  with  elevations  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  8,000  feet.  What  revelations  are  to 
come  from  the  inhospitable  and  in  large  part  ice-covered 
lands  still  farther  north  can  only  be  told  as  exploration 
and  survevs  are  extended  in  that  direction. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       89 

This  brief  review  of  some  of  the  leading  characteristics 
of  the  mountains  and  hills  adjacent  to  the  Atlantic  coast 
will,  I  think,  serve  to  show  that  they  bear  a  family  relation- 
ship; like  the  members  of  a  family,  they  are  of  various 
ages,  although  all  of  them  are  past  their  prime,  and  may 
with  propriety  be  termed  the  Atlantic  Cordillera. 

THE    CONTINENTAL    BASIN 

An  inspection  of  the  map  forming  Fig.  14,  on  which 
the  larger  geographical  features  of  North  America  are  in- 
dicated, will  assist  the  reader  in  appreciating  the  general 
relations  and  extent  of  the  plains  and  plateaus  which  col- 
lectively form  the  Continental  basin. 

This  medial  region  of  the  continent  is  bordered  on  the 
east  for  some  2,000  miles  by  the  Atlantic  mountains,  and 
on  the  west  throughout  its  entire  extent  by  the  Pacific 
mountains.  It  is  open  to  the  sea  at  both  the  north  and  the 
south,  and  extends  in  one  continuous  series  of  plains  and 
plateaus  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
The  southern  portion  of  this  interior  basin  or  trough  has 
already  been  briefly  described  in  discussing  the  character- 
istics of  the  Gulf  plains.  The  northern  portion  has  also 
been  considered  in  describing  the  tundra  region  adjacent 
to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  leading  geographical  features  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continental  basin  are  its  generally  low  elevation,  the 
mildness  of  its  topographic  details,  and,  with  two  excep- 
tions, the  absence  within  its  borders  of  elevations  having 
a  mountainous  structure.  In  general  the  rocks  beneath 
the  surface  are  horizontally  stratified  marine  sediments. 
The  stream-cut  valleys  arc  shallow  and  usually  broad,  ex- 
cept in  the  bordering  plateaus  and  foot-hills  on  the  east  and 
west  sides,  where  the  streams  frequently  How  several  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  surface  of  the  broad.  Hat  topped  inter- 
stream  Spaces,  The- drainage  of  the  continental  basin  serves 
as  a  convenient  basis  for  subdividing  it  into  three  separate 
portions.  These  are  the  Gulf  slope,  which  discharges  its 
surplus  waters  into  the  I  iulf  of  Mexico  and  is  drained  priii- 


90  NORTH    AMERICA 

cipally  by  the  Mississippi;  the  St.  Lawrence  slope,  occupied 
in  part  by  the  Great  Lakes  and  drained  by  the  St.  Lawrence 
River;  and  the  arctic  slope,  down  which  the  Mackenzie, 
Nelson,  and  other  rivers  flow  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  or  to 
Hudson  Bay.  At  no  place  are  the  Pacific  mountains 
broken  by  cross-drainage,,  so  as  to  allow  the  continental 
basin  to  send  a  tribute  to  the  Pacific  Ocean* 

The  vast  extent  of  the  Continental  basiupfembracing,  as 
it  does,  some  three-fourths  of  the  entire  area  of  North 
America,  makes  it  necessary,  even  in  a  general  review  of 
the  large  geographical  features  of  the  continent,  to  recog- 
nise smaller  subdivisions  than  the  three  great  drainage 
slopes  referred  to  above.  For  this  purpose  we  select  the 
more  or  less  well-defined  plains  and  plateaus  into  which 
the  region  is  naturally  subdivided.  The  portion  of  the  Con- 
tinental basin  embraced  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United 
States  has  been. shown  by  J.  W.  Powell  to  consist  of  the 
following  physiographic  regions,  namely,  the  Gulf  plains; 
the  Prairie  plains;  the  Lake  plains,  including  the  region 
draining  to  the  Great  Lakes;  and  the  Great  plateaus  or 
Great  plains,  as  they  are  more  generally  termed,  adjacent 
to  the  eastern  border  of  the  Pacific  mountains.  Several  of 
these  divisions  need  to  be  extended  and  still  others  recog- 
nised in  order  to  include  the  entire  region  under  review. 
The  portion  of  the  Continental  basin  to  the  north  of  the 
LTnited  States-Canadian  boundary  has  been  only  partially 
explored,  and  the  subdivisions  of  it  suggested  below  are 
to  be  considered  as  provisional. 

The  Lake  plains  include  in  Canada  the  country  to  the 
north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  which  drains  to  them,  but  ex- 
cepting the  flat  lands  bordering  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario  and 
once  covered  by  their  waters,  the  region  referred  to  is 
rather  a  roughened  plateau  than  a  plain.  From  a  geological 
point  of  view  the  hilly  country  composed  of  crystalline  rocks 
to  the  north  of  Lakes  Superior  and  Huron  and  included 
within  their  hydrographic  basins  partakes  more  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  Laurentian  Highlands  than  it  does  of  the 
features  of  the  portion  of  the  Lake  plains  situated  in  the 
LTnited  States. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       91 

The  Prairie  plains  also  extend  far  to  the  north  of  the 
international  boundary,  and  on  their  northern  border  merge 
with  the  forest-covered  plains  in  central  Manitoba  and  the 
northern  portion  of  Saskatchewan,  which  are  drained  by 
northward-flowing  rivers.  These  plains  in  the  far  north 
differ  from  the  Prairie  plains  in  the  fact  that  they  are  for- 
ested and  acquire  greater  diversity  from  the  presence  of 
innumerable  lakes,  several  of  which  are  of  large  size.  For 
convenience  we  may  designate  this  vast  and  but  little 
known  northern  region  as  the  Subarctic  Forest  plains. 
Still  farther  north,  where  the  forest  dies  away,  lie  the 
Barren  Grounds,  which  merge  on  their  northern  border 
with  the  frozen  morasses  or  tundra  of  the  arctic  coastal 
plain. 

To  acquire  just  conceptions  of  the  topographic  and 
other  characteristics  of  the  several  regions  of  mild  relief 
which  make  up  the  Continental  basin  is  a  difficult  task,  as 
each  one  is  of  great  extent  and  possesses  many  peculiari- 
ties of  its  own,  and  besides,  in  two  separate  regions,  each 
embracing  many  hundreds  of  square  miles,  movements  in 
the  earth's  crust  have  occurred  of  such  a  nature  as  to  ele- 
vate the  rocks  and  give  them  the  general  structure  com- 
monly found  in  mountain  ranges.  Reference  is  here  made 
to  the  Ozark  uplift  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
Prairie  plains  and  the  Black  Hills  of  Dakota  which  rise 
from  the  Great  plateaus. 

The  Ozark  Uplift. — There  is  an  area  embracing  about 
7^.000  square  miles  in  southern  Missouri,  northern  Arkan- 
sas, and  the  eastern  border  of  the  Indian  Territory,  in  which 
the  rocks  have  been  upraised  above  the  surrounding  Gulf 
and  Prairie  plains.  The  Uplift,  if  we  imagine  it  uneroded, 
would  have  the  general  form  of  an  inverted  canoe;  thai  is. 
it  would  form  an  elongated  ridge,  broad  and  dome-like  mi 
the  central  portion  and  dying  away  on  all  sides  into  the 
great  surrounding  region  of  undisturbed  and  essentially 
horizontal  rocks.  'Idle  major  axis  of  the  uplift,  although 
exhibiting  a  double  curvature,  has  a  general  northeast  and 
southwesl  trend.  It  is  aboul  500  miles  long,  and  in  the 
widest  part  is  approximately  200  miles  broad.     What  the 


92  NORTH    AMERICA 

height  of  the  dome  would  be  had  the  rocks  composing- 
it  not  yielded  to  the  destructive  influences  of  the  air  or 
been  removed  by  streams  cannot  be  readily  estimated, 
since  the  movements  of  the  earth's  crust  which  upraised 
it  occurred  at  several  widely  separated  intervals  with  inter- 
vening periods  of  decay  and  erosion,  and  downward  move- 
ments have  also  been  experienced  which  submerged  the 
region  and  permitted  the  deposit  of  sheets  of  sediment 
over  it.  If  the  results  of  the  upbuilding  agencies  had  not  in 
a  large  measure  been  counteracted  in  these  several  ways, 
the  dome  to-day  would  have  a  height  of  several  thousand 
feet.  In  the  present  condition  the  deeply  eroded  dome 
presents  the  net  result  of  elevation  over  subsidence  and 
erosion.  The  dome-like  form  is  lost,  and  in  its  place  is  a 
complex  series  of  ridges  and  valleys.  The  higher  summits 
now  remaining,  situated  principally  in  the  Iron  Mountain 
district  in  northeastern  Missouri,  rise  from  1.400  to  1,800 
feet  above  the  neighbouring  plains,  and  from  1.800  to  2,100 
feet  above  the  sea. 

The  greater  intensity  with  which  the  rocks  in  the  south- 
western portion  of  the  Ozark  uplift  have  been  folded  than 
in  the  more  northern  portion  and  the  varying  degrees  to 
which  the  beds  have  yielded  to  denudation  have  resulted  in 
giving  to  its  various  parts  different  types  of  topography. 
This  diversity  has  led  to  the  recognition  of  several  distinct 
divisions,  such  as  the  Shawnee  Hills,  at  the  extreme  north- 
eastern end  of  the  uplift,  where  the  rocks  have  been  folded 
and  the  ridges  cut  across  by  the  Mississippi;  the  St. 
Francois  Mountains,  in  southeastern  Missouri,  composed 
of  a  large  number  of  isolated  hills  and  rising  from  500  to 
800  feet  above  the  adjacent  valleys;  the  Ozark  plateau,  in 
southwestern  Missouri  and  northwestern  Arkansas,  the 
central  part  of  which  has  a  general  elevation  of  1,500  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  to  one  travelling  over  it  seems  a  bound- 
less and  featureless  plain  underlaid  by  apparently  horizontal 
but  in  reality  gently  westward  dipping  sheets  of  stratified 
rocks;  the  Boston  Mountains,  in  central  and  western  Ar- 
kansas, consisting  of  rugged  irregular  ridges  and  truncated 
summits  with  a  general  crest-line  elevation  of  1,000  feet 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       93 

above  the  sea;  and  the  Ouachita  (pronounced  Wichitaw) 
Mountains,  formed  of  numerous  rudely  parallel  upward 
folds  of  hard  rock,  which  rise  from  500  to  1,000  feet  above 
the  adjacent  valleys  and  form  a  belt  of  unusually  pictur- 
esque, forest-crowned  hills,  extending-  from  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas,  westward  into  Indian  Territory. 

The»study  of  the  island-like  Ozark  region  in  the  broad. 
ocean-like  expanse  of  the  prairies  is  far  from  being  com- 
plete. Although  topographically  distinct  and  appearing 
as  one  of  the  minor  units  in  the  geology  of  the  continent, 
geologists  are  inclined  to  the  view  that  the  Ozark  uplift 
as  above  described  should  be  considered  as  consisting  of 
two  independent  but  contiguous  areas  of  upheaval,  namely, 
the  Ozark  Hills,  situated  mainly  in  Missouri,  and  the 
Ouachita  Hills,  lying  mainly  in  Arkansas  and  the  Indian 
Territory.  This  Ozark-Ouachita  region — by  whatever 
name  finally  designated — is  one  with  a  long  and  varied, 
nay,  even  a  poetic  history.  In  writing  of  the  Archean 
rocks  of  the  Iron  Mountain  region,  Missouri,  Arthur 
Winslow  states  that  they  "  are  truly  ancient  elevations, 
older  than  any  others  in  the  State,  older  than  the  moun- 
tains of  Arkansas,  older  than  the  Appalachians,  older  than 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  if  venerable  be  an  attribute  of 
great  age,  they  certainly  merit  that  appellation.  For 
not  only  are  all  other  rocks  of  Missouri  youthful  as  com- 
pared with  these,  but  there  is  a  genetic  relationship,  and 
the  former  are  in  a  sense  descendants  of  the  latter.  For 
when  the  limestones  and  other  sedimentary  rocks  were 
vet  unformed  these  crystalline  rocks  must  have  existed 
as  parts  of  a  continental  mass,  and  from  the  degradation 
of  this  continent  resulted  the  materials  of  the  later  formed 
sedimentary  rocks.  The  present  granite  and  porphyry 
hills  are  but  protruding  parts  of  the  remnant  of  this  ancient 
continent  which  stood  as  islands  above  the  ocean  waters 
while  the  beds  of  limestone  and  sandstone  were  being 
formed  about  them,  which  rose  with  these  beds  when  they 
w.-re  lifted  from  the  waters,  which  now,  rugged  and  weath- 
er-beaten, vet  tempered  by  age  and  varied  experience,  rear 
themselves  above  the  surrounding  younger  rocks  and  hid 


94  NORTH    AMERICA 

fair  still  to  live  when  the  latter  have  yielded  to  the  forces 
of  degradation." 

Besides  its  pleasing  scenery,  varied  and  abundant 
mineral  resources,  and  health-giving  springs,  this  oasis  of 
hills  amid  the  unvaried  monotony  of  the  grass-covered 
plains  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  continental  basin  de- 
rives an  additional  attraction  from  its  forest  growths  in 
which  southern  pines  are  mingled  with  oaks,  hickories, 
walnuts,  and  other  broad-leaved  trees.  The  soil  is  generally 
productive,  and  great  fields  of  corn  and  cotton  may  be 
seen  side  by  side. 

The  Gulf  Plains. — The  Gnlf  plains  include  the  western 
portion  of  Florida,  and  extend  westward  and  southward 
about  the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  a  continuous 
belt  from  50  to  60  to  perhaps  100  miles  wide,  to  where 
the  Pacific  mountains  approach  the  coast  in  east-central 
Mexico.  This  low,  gently  seaward-sloping  region,  under- 
laid by  soft  horizontal  strata,  possesses  a  generally  rich 
soil  well  adapted  for  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  corn,  sugar- 
cane, and  rice.  In  the  low,  hot  country  of  eastern  Mexico 
nearly  all  tropical  fruits  can  be  successfully  raised.  The 
most  characteristic  as  well  as  the  broadest  portion  of  this 
productive  belt  is  in  the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana, 
and  extends  northward  with  a  gradually  decreasing  width 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  This  is  the  lower  Mississippi 
basin,  which  owes  its  existence  mainly  to  the  deposits  of 
silt  laid  down  by  the  river  after  which  it  is  named.  Much 
of  the  land  is  really  the  delta  of  the  "  Father  of  Waters," 
over  which  that  river  spreads  out  in  vast  inundations  each 
year. 

The  Gulf  plains  skirt  the  southern  end  of  the  Appa- 
lachian [Mountains,  and  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi  are 
bordered  in  part  by  the  Ozark  uplift.  There  are  certain 
reasons  for  believing  that  these  two  regions  of  elevation, 
characterized  by  a  similar  geological  structure,  are  portions 
of  a  single  greatly  disturbed  belt,  but  are  now  separated 
by  a  broad  area  which  has  been  depressed  and  deeply 
covered  with  comparatively  recent  sediments.  But  that 
this  general  view  of  the  origin  of  the  larger  features  in  the 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAXD       95 

relief  of  the  Gulf  States  can  be  accepted  with  entire  con- 
fidence is  questionable.  True  it  is,  however,  that  the  delta 
region  of  the  Mississippi  has  undergone  many  up  and  down 
movements,  and  that  several  successive  sheets  of  sedi- 
ment have  been  laid  down  upon  it,  but  that  the  folds  and 
crumplings  characteristic  of  the  southern  Appalachians  and 
of  the  Ozark  uplift  extend  across  the  intervening  space 
beneath  the  covering  of  horizontal  rocks  has  not  been 
demonstrated. 

The  Gulf  plains  throughout  are  less  than  500  feet  above 
the  sea.  and  much  of  the  Gulf  margin  and  the  similar  tract 
which  extends  northward  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  has 
an  elevation  of  less  than  100  feet.  The  fringe  of  lowland 
bordering  the  Gulf  and  extending  up  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi  is  generally  swampy  and  contains  numerous 
small  water  bodies  which  owe  their  existence  to  the  cut- 
ting off  of  the  beds  of  the  river  so  as  to  form  what  are 
termed  ox-bow  lakes. 

Previous  to  the  settlement  of  the  Gulf  plains  by  Euro- 
peans and  the  clearing  of  much  of  the  land  for  plantations 
it  was  clothed  with  such  a  dense  growth  of  trees  and  vines 
as  to  be  almost  impenetrable.  The  southern  pine  there 
reaches  its  greatest  perfection  and  is  the  basis  of  a  great  lum- 
ber industry,  and  oaks  of  several  species,  the  wide-spreading 
white-trunked  sycamore,  the  still  more  stately  tulip-tree  with 
its  cup-like  blossoms  of  yellow,  the  fragrant  magnolia,  the 
seemingly  always  aged  cypress,  the  gum-tree,  and  many 
other  species  of  arboreal  vegetation  also  find  most  con- 
genial conditions  for  their  growth.  The  dwarf  palmetto, 
which  forms  such  a  characteristic  growth  in  Florida,  ex- 
tends northward  in  the  Mississippi  basin  to  the  southern 
border  of  the  Ozark  uplift.  Much  of  the  luxuriant  nioxs 
and  lichen  draped  forest  of  the  Gulf  plains  with  all  its 
primitive  network  of  shrubs  and  vines  still  remains. 

The  Prairie  Plains. — A  prairie  in  the  current  use  of  the 
term  i>  a  generally  level  region,  either  a  plain  or  a  plateau. 
withoul  forests  but  clothed  with  a  carpet  of  luxuriant 
grasses  and  flowering  annual-.  A  rolling  prairie  is  an  un- 
dulating or  hilly,  grass-covered  region.     The  Greal  plains 


96  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  the  west-central  portion  of  the  Continental  basin  meet 
these  requirements,  and  are  typical  prairies.  On  their 
eastern  and  northern  border  the  Prairie  plains  merge  with 
the  adjacent  forested  plains,  and  on  the  west  from  Mexico 
northward  to  the  subarctic  forest  pass  by  still  less  tangible 
gradations  into  the  more  elevated  and  drier  Great  plateaus 
or  high  plains,  where  bunch-grass,  with  bare  intervals  be- 
tween the  scattered  tufts,  takes  the  place  of  the  continuous 
sod  of  the  true  prairies.  The  reasons  for  the  change  from 
forest  to  prairie  and  beyond  to  the  land  of  the  bunch-grass 
as  one  travels  from  east  to  west  across  the  interior  basin, 
lie  in  differences  in  the  humidity  of  the  climate. 

,  The  Prairie  plains  have  their  beginning  at  the  south 
in  Mexico  a  short  distance  from  the  Rio  Grande,  and  are 
prolonged  northward  through  central  Texas,  meeting  to 
the  north  of  Red  River  the  forest-covered  Ouachita  Hills. 
But  to  the  west  of  the  Ozark  uplift  the  Prairie  plains 
extend  northward  in  a  belt  about  ioo  miles  wide  which 
expands  in  Kansas,  northern  Missouri,  eastern  Nebraska, 
Iowa,  Illinois,  and  western  Ohio  to  fully  800  miles.  In  this 
highly  fertile  region,  now  the  most  productive  Agricultural 
area  of  comparable  size  in  North  America,  if  not  in  the 
world,  one  may  travel  in  a  straight  line  for  nearly  1,000 
miles  through  a  land  without  high  hills  but  pleasingly  di- 
versified by  undulations  of  the  generally  level  surface  and 
by  winding  stream-formed  valleys  bordered  by  swelling 
bluffs,  without  losing  sight  of  towns,  villages,  or  comfort- 
able farmhouses.  In  spring  this  entire  region  is  bright 
green  with  pastures  and  sprouting  grain-fields,  and  in 
autumn  yellow  with  the  harvest.  Miles  on  miles  of  rus- 
tling corn-fields  form  the  most  characteristic  feature  of 
the  summer  landscapes. 

The  Prairie  plains  contract  to  the  north  of  Illinois  and 
Iowa  to  a  width  of  about  200  milles,  being  encroached 
upon  by  the  forests  of  the  Great  Lakes  region,  but  are  pro- 
longed northward  through  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas  far 
into  Canada.  The  length  of  these  natural  meadows  from 
south  to  north  is  nearly  2.000  miles;  their  entire  area  is  not 
far  from  500,000  square  miles.     On  the  north  they  merge 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       9/ 

with  the  vast  region  of  similar  relief  which  is  darkened  by 
the  pines  and  spruces  of  the  subarctic  forest. 

The  northern  portion  of  the  original  prairie  region  has 
been  given  a  new  and  in  some  respects  a  more  pleasing 
aspect  by  the  sowing  of  millions  of  acres  with  wheat.  This 
is  the  most  favourable  large  area  for  wheat  culture  in  North 
America,  and  one  of  the  three  great  wheat-growing  regions 
in  the  world.  The  most  productive  portion  of  these  north- 
ern wheat-lands  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Red  River  of  the 
North,  situated  in  part  in  Minnesota  and  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  Dakotas,  but  including  also  the  plains  of  Mani- 
toba. Could  we  view  the  broad  extent  of  the  Prairie  plains 
as  do  the  birds  in  their  southward  migrations,  we  would  see 
them  golden  with  the  sheen  of  ripening  wheat  at  the 
north,  green  and  russet  in  the  central  portion  with  corn, 
and  white  with  cotton  to  the  south.  Everywhere  from 
south  to  north  and  east  to  west  the  vast  expanse  is  dotted 
with  the  curling  wreaths  arising  from  household  fires,  and 
at  hundreds  of  localities  blotted  by  the  smoke  of  towns, 
factories,  smelting-works,  and  coal-mines. 

Throughout  the  entire  extent  of  the  Prairie  plains  the 
underlying  rocks  are  essentially  horizontal,  and  consist 
largely  of  limestone.  An  ancient  sea-bottom  has  been 
broadly  upraised  with  but  slight  disturbances  of  the  strata 
to  a  general  elevation  of  about  800  feet  in  Minnesota 
and  the  Dakotas.  From  this  low  continental  divide  the 
land  slopes  gently  both  to  the  north  and  south.  The 
local  variations  of  surface  are  due  mainly  to  the  unequal 
weathering  of  the  rocks  and  the  excavation  of  stream- 
formed  valleys.  To  the  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio, 
however,  the  prairie,  in  common  with  the  adjacent  regions. 
was  formerly  occupied  by  glacial  ice,  which  on  melting 
left  widely  spread  deposits  of  clay,  stones,  gravel,  etc., 
which  gave  the  region  a  new  surface,  and  in  certain  in- 
stances turned  the  streams  from  their  former  courses. 
Much  of  the  rolling  prairie  inherit-  it-  billowy  surface  from 
the  glaciers.     In  the  midst  of  the  young  topography  of 

glacial    and    more    recent    date    there    i1-    an    area    of    aboul 

10,000  square  miles  in   southwestern   Wisconsin  and  ad- 


98  NORTH    AMERICA 

jacent  portions  of  Minnesota  and  Iowa  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  the  deposits  of  the  ancient  ice-sheets  (glacial 
drifts),  but  not  covered  by  them.  This  driftless  area,  as  it 
is  termed,  has  an  old  topography  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  relief  of  the  region  about  it,  in  which  broad  river-val- 
leys bordered  by  the  pinnacled  and  castellated  rocks  ex- 
posed in  the  bordering  slopes  of  the  adjacent  uplands  are 
among  the  most  conspicuous  features. 

The  soil  of  this  driftless  region  is  a  ferruginous  clay, 
resulting  from  the  prolonged  weathering  of  the  rocks, 
principally  limestone,  on  which  it  rests,  while  the  surfaces 
formerly  covered  by  glacial  ice  are  mantled  with  soil 
of  a  mixed  character  containing  many  fragments  and 
large  boulders  of  compact  rock.  In  the  prairies  to  the 
south  of  the  glacial  boundary  the  soils  are  mainly  of  a 
sedentary  origin,  and  have  resulted  from  the  disintegra- 
tion and  decay  of  the  rocks  on  which  they  rest,  but  usually 
rendered  black  by  the  humus  resulting  from  the  partial 
decay  of  numberless  generating  grasses  and  other  lowly 
plants.  This  black  soil  is  wonderfully  productive  and 
furnishes  the  basis  of  the  greater  part  of  the  wealth  and 
industries  of  the  region  it  covers.  The  minor  exceptions 
to  the  general  fertility  occur  where  the  rocks  immediately 
underlying  the  surface,  as  in  the  zinc  and  lead  region  of 
southwestern  Missouri,  are  highly  charged  with  Hint-like 
material,  which  remains  when  the  limestone  once  contain- 
ing it  is  dissolved  and  carried  away.  The  horizontal  sheets 
of  rock  beneath  the  broad  central  portion  of  the  Prairie 
plains  belong  to  the  Carboniferous  system  and  contain 
highly  valuable  seams  of  bituminous  coal.  The  area  of 
these  coal-producing  lands  is  estimated  at  125,000  square 
miles.  In  this  same  region  also  there  are  extensive  tracts 
in  which  natural  gas  and  petroleum  are  obtained  in  re- 
markable abundance.  In  southern  Wisconsin  and  the  ad- 
jacent portions  of  Illinois  valuable  deposits  of  lead  occur 
under  conditions  similar  to  those  associated  with  the  lead 
and  zinc  mines  about  the  northern  border  of  the  Ozark 
uplift. 

Owing  to  the  demand  for  transportation  facilities  and 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND       99 

the  mild  relief  of  the  land,  the  entire  extent  of  the  Prairie 
plains  is  covered  with  a  double-lined  network  of  steel. 
The  ganglia  in  this  pulsating  nerve  system  of  intercommu- 
nication are  Chicago  (here  included,  as  it  belongs  to  the 
prairie  as  well  as  to  the  Great  Lakes  region),  St.  Louis,  Kan- 
sas City,  Omaha,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  etc.,  cities  with 
from  100,000  to  over  1,500,000  inhabitants,  and  hundreds 
of  lesser  centres  of  trade,  manufacture,  and  education. 

The  Lake  Plains. — The  region  draining  to  the  Great 
Lakes — or  the  Laurentian  lakes,  as  they  may,  perhaps,  be 
more  properly  designated,  since  they  form  the  source  of 
the  river  of  that  name — presents  many  striking  contrasts 
to  the  more  monotonous  treeless  prairies  skirting  it  on 
the  south  and  west. 

The  name  "  Lake  plains,"  suggested  by  J.  W.  Powell  for 
the  portion  of  the  region  here  referred  to  within  the  bor- 
ders of  the  United  States,  when  extended  to  the  entire  area 
draining  to  the  Laurentian  lakes,  is  in  part  a  misnomer, 
since  much  of  its  surface  is  rough  and  irregular.  In  a 
certain  sense,  however,  the  term  plain  is  applicable,  since  it 
includes  a  plain  of  water  over  95.000  square  miles  in  area. 
The  combined  areas  of  the  lakes  are  greater  than  that  of  the 
region  draining  to  them.  The  land  bordering  the  Lauren- 
tian lakes  is  underlaid  to  a  large  extent  by  horizontal  or 
but  slightly  disturbed  sedimentary  rocks,  but  includes  on 
the  north  a  portion  of  the  contorted,  crystalline  terrahes 
already  referred  to  as  forming  the  Laurentian  Highlands, 
and  in  general  is  characterized  by  the  mildness  of  its  relief. 
The  elevations  of  the  surfaces  of  the  several  Laurentian 
lakes  above  the  sea  are,  in  feet,  as  follows:  Superior,  002; 
Michigan  and  Huron,  582;  Erie,  373;  and  Ontario,  247. 
The  land  forming  the  margins  of  these  water  bodies  rises 
in  general  less  than  300  feet  above  their  surfaces.  In  por- 
tions of  northern  Michigan  and  in  the  region  o\  crystalline 
rocks  to  the  north  of  Lakes  Superior  and  I  [uron,  however, 
the  relief  is  more  pronounced  and  there  are  many  hold 
rounded  hills  with  basins  between  them. 

The  principal  part  of  the  nearly  plane  land  surface  about 
the    Laurentian    lakes   is   in    immediate   proximit)    t<>   their 


ioo  NORTH    AMERICA 

borders,  and  records  the  former  extent  of  their  waters. 
These  plains,  composed  of  clay  deposited  from  the  lakes 
when  more  widely  expanded  than  at  present,  form  a  fringe 
from  5  to  50  or  more  miles  broad  all  about  the  present 
lake  margins.  Across  this  gently  sloping  surface  the 
streams  from  the  uplands,  increasing  in  length  as  the  lakes 
were  lowered,  have  excavated  narrow,  steep-sided  channels. 
These  modern  plains  furnish  typical  illustrations  of  young 
topography. 

In  its  primitive  condition  nearly  the  entire  Laurentian 
lakes  region  was  densely  covered  with  trees.  Previous  to 
the  destruction  which  followed  the  advance  of  the  lumber- 
men its  northern  portion  contained  some  of  the  finest  and 
most  valuable  white-pine  forests  on  the  continent.  To  the 
south  of  the  Laurentian  Lakes,  and  in  a  general  way  adjacent 
to  the  Prairie  plains,  there  were  park-like  areas  in  the  forest, 
known  as  oak-openings,  where  picturesque  bur-oak  grew 
in  open  groves  amid  luxuriant  natural  meadows.  These 
sunlit  gardens,  yellow  and  purple  with  golden-rods  and 
asters  in  autumn,  owed  their  existence  to  soil  conditions 
determined  long  previously  by  the  streams  issuing  from 
the  margin  of  the  retreating  ice-sheet,  which  formed  level 
areas  of  sand  and  gravel.  The  loose  open  texture  of 
these  deposits  renders  them  less  retentive  of  moisture 
than  the  neighbouring  morainal  hills,  and  during  the  long 
hot  summers  all  but  the  most  deeply  rooted  of  the  trees 
that  spring  up  upon  them  perished. 

The  soil  throughout  the  Great  Lake  region  is  nearly 
all  of  glacial  origin  and  presents  many  local  variations,  de- 
pendent principally  on  the  fact  that  the  streams  flowing 
from  the  ice  assorted  the  debris  delivered  to  them.  The 
surface  material,  technically  speaking,  is  of  both  glacial  and 
fluvio-glacial  origin.  The  former  consists  principally  of 
stonv  clay  or  //'//,  and  the  latter  of  gravel.  About  the  im- 
mediate border  of  the  existing  lakes  lacustral  clays  form 
the  surface.  The  leading  characteristics  of  the  glacial  and 
fluvio-glacial  soils  are  their  varied  composition  and  endur- 
ance under  cultivation.  The  glaciers  that  ploughed  the 
land  preparatory  to  the  present  harvest  gathered  together 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     101 

a  great  variety  of  rock  debris,  much  of  it  broken  and  un- 
weathered  and  not  leached  of  its  more  soluble  constituents. 

The  most  typical  portion  of  the  Lake  plains,  including 
the  southern  part  of  the  province  of  Ontario  and  the  south- 
ern shores  of  the  Laurentian  lakes  from  Minnesota  to  New 
York,  is  highly  favourable  for  agricultural  pursuits,  and 
produces  in  abundance  a  great  variety  of  crops  as  well  as 
richly  flavoured  fruits,  luscious  berries,  and  healthful  vege- 
tables. The  beneficial  influence  of  the  neighbouring  water 
bodies  on  the  climate,  tempering  the  heat  of  the  summers 
and  moderating  the  severity  of  the  winters,  is  shown  espe- 
ciallv  in  the  distribution  of  the  fruit  belts  of  Michigan,  Ohio, 
and  New  York,  which  are  in  regions  where  the  prevailing 
winds  blowing  over  them  come  from  the  lakes. 

The  Subarctic  Forest  Plains. — The  Prairie  plains  merge 
at  the  north  with  a  great  tract  of  forest-covered  lowlands, 
which  extend  from  the  Laurentian  hills  on  the  east  to  near 
the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  west.  The  change 
as  one  travels  northward  from  the  grassy  prairies  to  the 
countrv  of  equally  mild  relief,  but  clothed  with  trees  adapt- 
ed to  a  rigorous  climate,  is  gradual.  Along  the  irregular 
and  in  part  indefinite  junction  of  these  two  vast  plains,  the 
alignment  of  the  forest  is  broken  in  many  places,  and  its 
margin  fringed  by  a  picket-line  of  groves  and  of  isolated 
trees,  which  has  advanced  southward  and  invaded  the 
grass-lands.  Between  these  outposts  the  prairie  with  its 
wealth  of  summer  bloom  reaches  well  into  the  realm  of 
perennial  shadow.  The  southward  extensions  of  the  for- 
est are  mainly  in  the  valleys  and  adjacent  to  the  streams, 
while  the  drier  steppes  between  are  open  grass-lands.  No 
conspicuous  change  in  the  topography  of  the  land  or  of 
the  rocks  or  the  soil  coincides  with  the  change  from  grass 
to  forest.  The  differences  in  vegetation  must  therefore 
be  sought  in  climatic  conditions,  and  mainly  in  the  influ- 
ence of  atmospheric  changes  on  the  water  contained  in 
the  soil. 

Throughout  practically  the  whole  of  the  region  occu- 
pied b)  the  subarctic  forest,  between  Hudson  Bay  and  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  land  is  low  and  the 

8 


102  NORTH    AMERICA 

valleys  monotonous.  Many  lakes  are  present,  several  of 
them  of  large  size,  and  the  rivers  are  remarkable  for  their 
lengths,  low  gradients,  and  large  volumes. 

The  subdued  topography  of  the  region  here  considered, 
and  the  presence  of  vast  numbers  of  lakes  and  swamps,  is 
due  in  general  to  the  influence  of  the  ice-sheets  which  for- 
merly covered  it.  In  a  minor  way  the  presence  of  the 
innumerable  small  lakes  and  swamps  is  owing  to  the  ob- 
structions formed  by  growing  vegetation,  the  damming  of 
streams  by  driftwood,  the  work  of  beavers,  and  possibly  the 
influence  of  subsoil  ice. 

To  the  north  of  the  Subarctic  Forest  plain,  as  already 
described,  occur  the  desolate  tracts  known  in  Canada  as 
the  Barren  Grounds,  which  form  a  part  or  merge  into  the 
tundras  bordering  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  Great  Plateaus. — The  boundary  between  the  prairie 
plains  of  the  central  portion  of  the  interior  Continental  basin 
and  the  Great  plateaus  (Great  plains)  bordering  them  on 
the  west  is  usually  indefinite.     The  prairies  pass  into  the 
more  elevated  and  drier  plateaus  by  insensible  gradations. 
The  plateaus  rise  gradually  from  east  to  west,  and  along 
their  western  margin,  adjacent  to  the  east  base  of  the  Pa- 
cific mountains,  attain  a  general  elevation  of  from  5,000 
to  6,000  feet.    Over  vast  areas  these  monotonous  plateaus, 
with  their  even  sky-lines,  are  higher  above  the  sea  than 
the  crests  of  the  Appalachians,  and  along  their  western 
margin  in  many  localities  even   surpass  in   elevation  the 
most  prominent  peaks  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  United 
States.    Accompanying  this  increase  in  elevation  from  east 
to  west  there  is  a  decrease  in  precipitation,  and  in  con- 
sequence a  marked  change  in  the  vegetation.     The  pla- 
teaus, like   the   prairies,  are   treeless  in   their  most  char- 
acteristic portions,   but  the  larger  rivers  winding  across 
them   are   margined   in  many   instances   by   giant   cotton- 
woods. 

The  mental  picture  that  a  traveller  over  the  broad  pla- 
teaus retains  in  after-years  is  of  a  vast  treeless  level  tract 
of  country,  boundless  as  the  ocean,  which  is  bright  green 
and  decked  with  lowly  flowers  in  the  early  spring,  but  be- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     103 

comes  yellowish  brown  as  the  heat  and  dryness  of  sum- 
mer increase  and  the  grasses  lose  their  freshness.    Various 
portions  of  the  plateaus,  however,  have  their  own  individ- 
uality and  present  characteristics  which  make  them  con- 
spicuously different  from  other  portions  of  the  same  great 
series  of  steppes.     At  the  south,  in  the  region  of  the  Rio 
Grande  and  of  the  Pecos  and  Canadian  Rivers,  the  plateau 
is  dissected  by  stream-cut  valleys  1,000  feet  or  more  deep, 
and  from  one  to  two  score  miles  across,  which  divide  it 
into  a  number  of  individual  table-lands.    The  plateau  mar- 
gins for  many  miles  on  each  side  of  the  larger  river-valleys 
have  been  carved  by  a  complex  system  of  secondary  and 
usually  ephemeral  streams  into  a  great  variety   of  rock 
forms  with  deep  trenches  between.     These  conspicuously 
sculptured  areas  constitute  what  are  commonly  termed  Bad 
Lands.     In  certain  regions  also  the  surfaces  of  the  plateaus, 
more  especially  in  Nebraska  and  South  Dakota,  are  broadly 
undulating  or  reveal   a  seemingly   endless   succession   of 
ridges  and  hills  separated  by  shallow  depressions,  due  to 
the  presence  of  large  tracts  of  drifting  sand.     In  spite  of 
these  several  variations,  however,  the  leading  characteris- 
tics of  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  plateau  country  are 
the  generally  level  grass-covered  surfaces  extending  away 
in  all  directions  far  beyond  the  reach  of  vision.    On  the  roll- 
ing prairie  one  can  frequently  see  the  undulating  surface 
about  him  for  a  distance  of  15  or  20  miles,  but  the  curvature 
of  the  earth  usually  draws  still  narrower  limits  to  the  region 
within  the  view  of  the  plainsman.    In  riding  over  the  plains 
the  scene  changes  but  little  from  day  to  day  and  from  week 
to  week.     Monotony  is  the  one  word  that   best   describes 
the  lives  of  those  whose  lot  is  cast  on  these  broad  feature- 
less surfaces.     In  journeying  westward  across  the  plateau 
over  any  one  of  the  transcontinental  railways  a  moment  of 
excitement  occurs  when  the  even  line  of  the  western  hori- 
zon is  broken  by  the  summit  of  a  cloud-like  mountain-peak. 
"  Land  oh!  "  is  no  more  thrilling  to  voyagers  on  the  ocean 
than  the  shouts  which  first  made  known  the  presence  of  a 
mountain-peak  to  the  bands  of  immigrants  who  slowly  voy- 
aged across  this  sea  of  grass  with  then-  picturesque  "  prairie 


104  NORTH    AMERICA 

schooners  "  previous  to  the  building  of  the  railroads  which 
now  bind  together  the  East  and  the  West. 

The  Great  plateaus  begin  indefinitely  to  the  south  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  broaden  in  the  United  States  to  a  general 
width  of  about  400  miles,  and  extend  far  northward  into 
Canada.  Their  northern  limit  has  not  as  yet  been  determined, 
but  is  to  be  looked  for  near  the  head  waters  of  the  Mac- 
kenzie. The  length  of  the  plateau  country  is  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  2,000  or  2,500  miles,  and  its  average  width 
about  300  miles.  An  estimate  of  the  area  with  a  generally 
plane  surface  and  an  elevation  of  from  1,000  to  6,000  feet 
above  the  sea  places  it  at  about  700,000  square  miles. 

The  eastern  portion  of  the  Great  plateaus  includes  west- 
ern Texas,  Oklahoma,  the  central  and  western  portions  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska,  the  western  half  of  South  Dakota, 
western  North  Dakota,  western  Assiniboia,  and  thence  ex- 
tend northward  so  as  to  include  portions  of  Saskatchewan, 
Alberta,  and  Athabasca.  On  the  west  the  plateau  region 
includes  the  eastern  portions  of  New  Mexico  and  Colo- 
rado, extends  far  into  Wyoming,  and  embraces  central  and 
eastern  Montana,  and  thence  reaches  northward  to  Mac- 
kenzie. 

This  region  of  essentially  level  plateaus,  extending  as  it 
does  from  the  hot  lands  of  eastern  Mexico  nearly  to  the 
arctic  circle,  presents  great  diversity  of  climate  and  also 
well-marked  variations  in  the  secondary  features  of  its  re- 
lief. Of  necessity  it  needs  to  be  subdivided  for  more  de- 
tailed study.  The  rivers  flowing  eastward  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  have  excavated  valleys  in  the  plateau  region,  and 
may  be  used  as  a  basis  for  its  subdivision.  This  has  been 
done  by  J.  W.  Powell  for  the  portion  within  the  borders 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  terms  Pecos  plateau, 
Arkansas  plateau,  Platte  plateau,  and  Missouri  plateau 
have  been  proposed;  this  category  may  be  extended  espe- 
cially to  the  northward,  so  as  to  include  the  less  well- 
known  Saskatchewan,  Athabasca,  Peace,  and  Laird  pla- 
teaus. Each  of  these  divisions  is  in  reality  a  group  of 
plateaus,  for  the  reason  that  the  broad  areas  between  the 
eastward-flowing  rivers  are  trenched  by  lateral  stream  chan- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     105 

nels  tributary  to  the  main  waterways,  and  thus  subdivided 
into  smaller  units.  This  subdivision  of  the  plateau  region 
by  stream  channels  leaving  flat-topped  areas  between  them 
makes  one  instructive  geographical  process  prominent — 
that  is,  the  great  table-land  has  been  dissected.  The  depths 
of  the  channels  cut  across  it  depend  mainly  on  the  elevation 
of  the  land  and  the  distance  the  streams  have  to  travel  to 
reach  the  sea ;  but  modifying  conditions  are  furnished  by 
the  degree  of  resistance  the  rocks  offer  to  erosion,  the 
amount  of  precipitation,  etc.  If  the  elevation  is  great,  the 
stream  can  cut  deeply,  and  leave  bold  secondary  plateaus 
between  them;  if  the  distance  to  the  sea  is  short,  other  con- 
ditions being  the  same,  the  streams  can  cut  more  deeply 
than  when  their  courses  are  long;  if  the  rocks  are  resist- 
ant, they  are  left  in  bold  escarpment  bordering  the  valleys 
and  the  margins  of  the  secondary  plateaus  are  well  defined, 
but  if  they  are  soft  and  crumble  easily,  their  debris  is  washed 
and  blown  into  the  rivers,  and  a  general  lowering  of  the 
surface  without  the  formation  of  deep  trenches  is  the  re- 
sult. These  and  still  other  conditions  have  influenced  the 
manner  in  which  the  Great  plateaus  have  been  dissected, 
and  are  of  necessity  to  be  considered  in  a  critical  discus- 
sion of  the  history  of  the  land  as  recorded  in  its  relief. 

The  main  reason  for  the  dissection  of  the  region  under 
consideration  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  it  is  bordered 
on  the  west  by  high  mountains  where  preciptation  is  abun- 
dant, and  the  streams,  supplied  largely  by  the  melting  of 
the  snow  in  summer,  flow  across  a  comparatively  rainless 
country.  The  stream  channels  in  general  have  been  deep- 
ened at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  the  areas  between  them 
have  been  lowered  by  erosion.  Valleys  running  east  and 
west  have  thus  been  excavated,  leaving  the  intervening 
spaces  as  gplands,  which,  however,  in  certain  instances  have 
been  minutely  dissected  by  the  streams  originating  on  them 
and  supplied  by  local  winter  precipitation.  Added  to  these 
general  conditions  are  differences  in  rock  texture,  which 
have  led  to  great  variations  in  the  details  due  to  erosions, 
particularly  on  the  valley  borders. 

One  other  condition  which  has  modified   the  history 


106  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  the  plateau  region  throughout,  but  most  decidedly  at 
the  north,  is  the  climatic  change  which  culminated  in  the 
Glacial  epoch.  During  the  time  referred  to  the  northern 
portion  of  the  Great  plateaus  situated  in  Canada  and  the 
adjacent  part  of  the  United  States  was  invaded  by  gla- 
cial ice  which  spread  an  irregular  sheet  of  detritus  over  the 
country  it  occupied.  Decided  changes  occurred  also  in  the 
central  and  southern  portion  owing  to  increased  precipi- 
tation, the  flooding  of  the  rivers  leading  from  the  melting 
ice-front,  and  to  movements  in  the  earth's  crust  of  as  yet 
undetermined  extent  and  amplitude.  It  is  apparent  to  the 
geographer  that  much  of  the  history  of  the  climatic  changes 
of  glacial  and  post-glacial  times  is  recorded  in  the  relief  of 
the  interior  Continental  basin  to  the  south  of  the  limit 
reached  by  the  ice  and  in  the  terraces  and  alluvial  deposits 
of  the  valleys,  but  as  yet  for  the  most  part  this  interesting 
story  remains  unread. 

The  most  deeply  dissected  portion  of  the  Great  pla- 
teaus occurs  in  western  Texas,  eastern  New  Mexico, 
and  Oklahoma.  In  .that  region  the  rivers  having  their 
sources  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  flowing  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  have  excavated  deep  and  wide  valleys,  leaving 
broad  intervening  areas  in  bold  relief. 

The  Pecos  River  drains  a  large  part  of  the  mountainous 
region  in  eastern  New  Mexico,  and  flows  through  a  valley 
of  its  own  making,  which  is  some  30  or  more  miles  broad 
and  its  bottom  about  1,200  feet  below  the  general  sur- 
face of  the  plateau  lying  to  the  eastward.  The  Canadian 
River  has  excavated  a  similar  valley,  which  is  some  40  miles 
broad  throughout  much  of  its  course,  and  is  bordered  by 
bold  rocky  escarpments  from  1,000  to  1,200  feet  high,  in 
which  the  edges  of  the  horizontal  strata  underlying  the 
adjacent  plateaus  are  exposed.  This  region  of  large  and 
strongly  defined  topographic  features  illustrates  in  a  re- 
markable manner  the  nature  of  the  work  performed  by 
streams  which  rise  amid  high  mountains  and  flow  across  a 
dry  plateau  standing  well  above  sea-level. 

El  Llano  Estacado. — x\  typical  portion  of  the  great 
plateau  region  left  by  deep  dissection  is  furnished  by  the 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     107 

table-land  named  by  early  Mexican  explorers  "  El  Llano 
Estacado,"  or  the  Staked  Plains,  in  reference  to  the  fact 
that  owing  to  the  monotony  of  the  surface  and  the  scarcity 
of  water  the  routes  of  travel  were  at  first  marked  by  stakes. 
This  region,  celebrated  in  the  traditions  of  the  Southwest 
frontier,  is  described  by  Captain  Marcy,  who  crossed  its 
eastern  portion  in  1849,  as  being  "  much  elevated  above  the 
surrounding  country,  very  smooth  and  level,  and  spreading 
out  in  every  direction  as  far  as  the  eye  can  penetrate,  with- 
out a  tree,  shrub,  or  any  other  herbage  to  intercept  the 
vision.  The  traveller  in  passing  over  it  sees  nothing  but 
one  dreary  and  monotonous  plain  of  barren  solitude.  It  is 
an  ocean  of  desert  prairie,  where  the  voice  of  man  is  seldom 
heard,  and  where  no  living  being  permanently  resides.  The 
almost  total  absence  of  water  causes  all  animals  to  shun  it; 
even  the  Indians  do  not  venture  to  cross  it,  except  at  two 
or  three  points,  where  they  find  a  few  small  pools  of  water." 
As  will  be  shown  below,  the  barrenness  and  desolation  of 
this  arid  tract  is  not  so  great  as  it  seemed  to  those  who  first 
invaded  its  primeval  solitude. 

El  Llano  Estacado,  or  the  Llano,  as  it  is  frequently 
termed,  is  about  500  miles  across  from  north  to  south,  and 
280  miles  wide  from  east  to  west.  It  is  bordered  on  nearly 
all  portions  of  its  periphery  by  descending  escarpments 
which  lead  down  to  the  adjacent  valleys.  Its  surface,  al- 
though appearing  horizontal,  in  reality  slopes  eastward  at 
the  rate  of  about  20  feet  per  mile,  and  on  its  highest,  north- 
west border,  has  an  elevation  of  5.500  feet  above  the  sea. 
This  great  table-land  has  a  smooth  floor,  and,  as  reported  by 
recent  explorers,  is  clothed  with  an  abundance  of  bunch- 
grass,  which  formerly  furnished  sustenance  to  herds  of  ante- 
lope and  deer.  It  was  in  this  general  region  also  thai  some 
of  the  immense  herds  of  buffalo  which  once  inhabited  the 
broad  plateaus  foufad  a  winter  range. 

The  Llano,  together  with  its  southward  extension,  hav- 
ing the  same  characteristics  and  known  as  the  Edwards  pla- 
teau, is  bordered  on  the  wesl  by  the  deep  and  broad  valley 
of  the  southward-flowing  Pecos  River,  and  on  the  north 
by  the  equally  deep  and  broad  valley  carved  in  the  plateau 


108  NORTH    AMERICA 

country  by  the  eastward-flowing  Canadian  River.  The  east- 
ward slope  of  the  surfaces  of  the  two  plateaus  is  continued 
throughout  the  region  bordering  them  on  the  east  all  the 
way  to  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  streams 
originating  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  eastward  sloping 
plateaus  and  flowing  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  represented  at 
the  present  time  by  the  Colorado  (of  Texas),  the  Brazos, 
Trinity,  and  Red  Rivers,  extended  their  trunks  by  head- 
water corrasion  and  developed  numerous  branches  so  long 
as  the  rainfall  was  sufficient  to  maintain  a  surface  drainage. 
But  as  the  streams  were  lengthened  they  cut  farther  and 
farther  westward  and  into  a  region  that  became  drier  and 
drier,  until  finally  they  reached  a  land  in  which  all  of  the 
scanty  rain  that  fell  was  absorbed  by  the  thirsty  soil.  The 
drainage  from  this  higher  and  drier  region  is  subterranean, 
and  reaches  the  head  waters  of  the  streams  to  the  eastward 
to  a  considerable  extent  as  springs.  The  streams  which 
lowered  the  country  to  the  eastward  of  the  Llano  developed 
many  branches,  some  of  which  were  extended  westward 
into  the  drier  plateau  country  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give 
the  eastern  margin  of  the  remaining  upland  a  •scalloped  and 
irregular  border. 

In  travelling  westward  up  the  courses  of  the  rivers  of 
eastern  Texas,  one  passes  from  a  low  region  of  old  topogra- 
phy to  one  where  the  head  branches  of  the  streams  flow 
in  canons,  and  the  relief  has  the  ruggedness  of  youth;  on 
gaining  the  western  border  of  the  belt  of  country  having 
surface  streams  one  ascends  to  the  smooth  surface  of  the 
high  plateau,  which  is  young  as  regards  stream  develop- 
ment, although  in  years  older  than  the  country  with  a 
deeply  eroded  surface  to  the  eastward.  The  Llano  and 
Edwards  plateau  present  us  with  examples  of  perpetuated 
topographic  youthfulness. 

The  Llano,  although  dreaded  by  early  explorers  and 
shunned  so  far  as  possible  even  by  experienced  plainsmen, 
on  account  of  a  lack  of  water,  has  in  recent  years  become 
more  favourably  known.  It  is  crossed  at  present  by  two 
railroads.  Water  has  been  found  beneath  the  surface  in 
numerous  localities,  and  the  desert-like  region  now  bids 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     109 

fair  to  become  a  favourable  cattle-raising  country.  It  is 
not  to  be  expected,  however,  that  all  the  glowing  pre- 
dictions which  have  been  published  concerning  this  and 
neighbouring  table-lands  will  be  more  than  partially  ful- 
filled through  the  use  of  the  subsurface  waters. 

The  Arkansas  Plateau. — To  the  north  of  the  Canadian 
River  the  region  termed  above  the  Great  plateaus  is  less 
deeply  dissected  than  in  the  portion  of  which  the  Llano  is 
typical,  and  the  streams  from  the  mountains  flow  through 
shallow  valleys  with  less  rugged  and  less  picturesque  bor- 
ders than  those  of  the  deep  wide  valleys  of  western  Texas 
and  eastern  Xew  Mexico.  The  broad  plateau  surfaces  ad- 
jacent to  the  valleys  of  the  Arkansas  and  Platte  Rivers 
probably  come  nearer  to  the  popular  idea  of  the  essential 
characteristics  of  the  "  Great  plains  "  than  any  other  of  the 
larger  divisions  of  the  region  under  review.  The  most  con- 
spicuous geographic  features  of  the  Arkansas  plateau  have 
been  described  by  W.  D.  Johnson  as  consisting  of  an  assem- 
blage of  low  and  broad  table-lands  separated  by  shallow  ero- 
sion valleys.  The  plateaus  are  immense  unsculptured  rem- 
nants in  light  relief  of  an  older  and  originally  perfect 
plain.  The  few  long  and  feeble  streams,  wide  apart  and 
flowing  eastward  from  the  distant  mountains  in  parallel 
courses  and  without  tributaries,  have  blocked  out  by  dis- 
section the  larger  features  of  the  broad  landscape  which  in 
future  ages  will  be  slowly  etched  into  a  multitude  of  details. 
The  scenery  of  these  featureless  plains  is  ordinarily  depress- 
ing when  once  the  novelty  of  being  adrift  on  a  sea  of  grass 
has  passed  away.  There  is  nothing  that  can  be  termed 
scenery  except  that  which  once  a  war  for  a  brief  period 
the  sky  affords  when  clouds  of  extraordinary  grandeur 
darken  the  air.  Throughout  nearly  the  entire  annual  course 
there  is  no  material  for  landscape  effect  except  the  straight 
line  of  the  horizon  with  a  featureless  breadth  of  sun-faded 
brown  below  it  and  above  a  merely  broader  -pace  of  faded 
blue.  There  is  nowhere  a  curved  line,  and  though  as  a  sci- 
entific fact  there  is  vast  expanse  of  flal  plain,  there  is  little 
to  suggesl  it  when  the  sky  is  empty  of  clouds.     In  June  the 

clouds  come  with  a  gradual  maturing  at   some  point   alo 


no  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  even  sky-line,  and  increase  rapidly  nntil  the  heavens  are 
rilled  with  magnificent  vapour  banks;  but  the  display  is  sim- 
ply spectacular,  and  passes  away  in  a  few  hours  as  quickly 
as  it  came,  with  only  local  showers  to  refresh  the  land. 

The  one  industry  that  can  thrive  on  the  Arkansas  pla- 
teau, which  was  formerly  at  certain  seasons  blackened  by 
herds  of  bison,  is  stock-raising.  Wells  from  which  water  is 
pumped  by  windmills  furnish  sufficient  water  for  herds 
of  cattle  and  horses,  but  not  for  irrigation. 

Bad  Lands. — In  the  northern  portion  of  the  Great  pla- 
teaus within  the  United  States  the  surface  rocks  over  great 
areas  are  soft  or  but  irregularly  hardened  sediments  of  an- 
cient lakes  and  streams  and  have  been  sculptured  by  rain, 
wind,  and  ephemeral  rills  into  a  most  marvellous  array  of 
monumental  and  castellated  forms.  Localities  where  this 
minute  dissection  of  the  soft  horizontal  strata  is  especially 
well  marked  over  hundreds  of  square  miles  occur  in  South 
Dakota  and  Montana,  and  especially  on  the  borders  of  the 
valleys  carved  by  the  Loup  Fork,  Niobrara,  White,  Yellow- 
stone, and  Missouri  Rivers.  In  this  region  the  rainfall  is 
light,  the  mean  annual  precipitation  being  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  15  inches,  and  occurs  mostly  during  the  winter 
months.  In  the  summer  season  the  lands  far  out  on  the 
plateaus  are  dry  and  hot,  and  all  but  the  larger  streams  dis- 
appear. The  rocks,  consisting  mostly  of  unconsolidated 
clays  and  soft  sandstones,  with  occasional  hard  layers  and 
irregular  concretions,  have  been  cut  into  innumerable  chan- 
nels, leaving  steep-sided  remnants  of  the  former  plain  be- 
tween. The  maze  of  trench-like  valleys,  the  similarity  of 
the  sculptured  land-forms  one  to  another,  and  the  absence 
of  water,  make  these  desert  regions  excessively  difficult  to 
traverse.  The  Canadian-French  who  explored  the  north- 
central  portion  of  the  Great  plateaus  in  early  days  of  Amer- 
ican settlement  termed  these  tracts  of  country,  so  difficult 
to  cross.  Mauvaises  Torres,  a  name  now  seldom  used,  but 
replaced  by  the  English  name  Bad  Lands.  Although  bad 
to  the  hunter  and  the  plainsman,  these  desert  regions  are 
of  fascinating  interest  to  men  of  scientific  training.  The  in- 
tense heat,  the  choking  alkaline  dust,  the  absence  of  water, 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     m 

and  the  clanger  of  being  lost  and  of  perishing  of  thirst  in 
these  wild  silent  regions,  have  not  checked  the  ardour  of 
explorers.  Not  only  do  the  Bad  Lands  present  a  most 
attractive  field  to  the  student  of  erosion  and  of  the  origin 
of  earth  forms,  but  their  deathlike  solitudes  have  been 
made  to  yield  the  most  wonderful  procession  of  strange  ex- 
tinct animals  yet  unearthed  by  geologists.  They  are  vast 
cemeteries  in  which  are  interred  the  skeletons  of  many  gen- 
era and  hundreds  of  species  of  animals  which  lived  in  the 
ancient  lakes  or  wandered  through  the  almost  tropical  forest 
that  in  distant  ages  clothed  the  adjacent  country.  The 
great  lesson  to  be  learned  by  the  geographer  in  these  unin- 
viting regions  as  they  seem  to  most  people  relates  to  the 
way  in  which  the  rocks  have  been  eroded.  The  prevailing 
softness  of  the  beds  with  occasional  hard  layers,  the 
scarcity  of  vegetation,  the  occasional  heavy  rains,  and  the 
considerable  height  of  the  country  above  the  master 
streams  combine  to  favour  rapid  and  deep  sculpturing.  The 
precipitous  slopes  of  the  small  mesas  and  castle-like  rock 
forms  destitute  of  all  vegetation  excepting  succulent  cacti 
and  scattered  clumps  of  bunch-grass,  reveal  a  multitude  of 
sunken  lines  and  raised  edges,  produced  by  the  ephemeral 
streams,  and  a  less  complex  series  of  horizontal  ledges  due 
to  the  prominent  edges  of  hard  layers.  The  steep  slopes 
are  worn  into  alcoves  and  irregular  recesses  by  the  transient 
rills,  and  smoothed  or  etched  by  the  wind-driven  sands.  The 
result  is  an  assemblage  of  architectural  forms  such  as  only 
the  most  fantastic  dream  pictures  or  the  strange  tricks  of 
the  mirage  on  northern  ice-fields  can  simulate.  Nor  are 
the  wonderfully  intricate  topographical  forms  the  sole  at- 
traction. The  rocks  are  variously  coloured,  and  presenl 
endless  combinations  of  yellow,  red,  green,  purple,  etc.  in 
many  tin+S  .and  shades,  rendered  seemingly  brilliant  by  con- 
trast with  the  gray  of  shales  and  the  blackness  of  occa- 
sional coal-seams.  Owing  to  the  burning  of  coal-beds,  the 
rock-  are  sometimes  altered  over  broad  area-  and  given 
unusually  striking  colours,  among  which  various  shades  o\ 
red  predominate.  Stan. ling  on  some  commanding  crag  in 
the  Bad   Lands  in  the  early  morning  or  when  the  purple 


H2  NORTH    AMERICA 

shadows  of  evening  fill  the  gorges  and  ravines,  the  most 
unimaginative  traveller  sees  in  the  silence  about  him  the 
ruins  of  a  vast  city,  with  cathedrals,  temples,  and  palaces  of 
varied  colours  and  weird  designs  such  as  no  mortal  hand 
ever  fashioned.  It  is  at  such  times  that  the  picturesque 
and  gorgeous,  although  desolate,  landscape  kindles  the 
fancy  and  suggests  day  dreams  which  distract  one's  atten- 
tion from  the  more  prosaic  study  of  these  earth  ruins. 

The  best  developed  portions  of  the  strange  region  here 
referred  to  occur  on  the  borders  of  the  uplands  overlooking 
the  larger  valleys,  excavated  by  the  rivers  flowing  eastward 
from  the  mountains,  and  are  simply  larger  examples  of  ero- 
sion, such  as  may  be  seen  in  many  bluffs  and  valley-sides 
in  nearly  every  country,  but  rendered  conspicuous  by  their 
size,  extent,  endless  variety,  and  unusual  colours. 

Sand-Hills. — The  sands  winnowed  by  the  winds  from 
the  bare  plains  and  steep  bluffs  are  in  certain  places  on  the 
Great  plateaus  gathered  into  dunes  which  cover  great  areas 
with  a  succession  of  low  dome-shaped  hills.  On  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Niobrara  River  there  is  a  detached  area  of  about 
20,000  square  miles,  which  has  been  covered  in  this  manner 
with  loose  sands.  This  region,  as  described  by  F.  V.  Hay- 
den,  presents  a  succession  of  round-topped  hills,  some  of 
them  scooped  out  by  the  swirling  winds  so  as  to  resemble 
volcanic  craters.  These  sand-hills  were  formerly  a  favourite 
resort  of  the  bison,  which  fed  upon  the  scanty  but  very 
nutritious  grasses  in  the  little  valleys  and  intervals  among 


s 


the  mounds  and  ridges.  There  is,  for  the  most  part,  an 
abundant  supply  of  water  in  the  lakelets  scattered  through 
the  region,  and  fed  by  the  seepage  from  the  porous  sands, 
which  drink  in  all  the  water  that  falls  upon  them  and  allow 
it  to  percolate  slowly  into  the  adjacent  depressions.  Some 
of  the  lakelets  and  ponds  are  highly  alkaline,  while  others 
are  fresh;  the  former  can  be  easily  distinguished  from  the 
latter  by  the  absence  of  vegetation  about  their  borders. 
The  hills,  although  seemingly  utterly  desolate,  on  a  nearer 
view  sometimes  reveal  considerable  vegetation,  including 
yuccas  or  "  Spanish  needles,"  which  shelter  the  sands  from 
the  winds. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     113 

Many  other  regions  on  the  western  border  of  the  Great 
plateaus,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  on  the 
desert  plains  of  Utah,  Nevada,  and  California,  are  buried 
beneath  drifting  sands,  which  have  the  characteristic  fea- 
tures of  a  dune-covered  seacoast.  The  sources  of  the  sands 
in  these  interior  plains  are  usually  to  be  found  in  the  dis- 
integration of  the  rocks  under  the  action  of  the  dry  air 
with  its  many  and  sudden  changes  of  temperature,  but  occa- 
sionally they  come  from  desiccated  lake-beds  not  yet 
clothed  with  vegetation. 

Central  Portion  of  the  Great  Plateaus. — The  State  of 
Nebraska,  about  400  miles  in  length  from  east  to  west, 
and  extending  across  the  Great  plateaus  to  within  some  60 
miles  .of  the  mountains  bordering  them  on  the  west,  fur- 
nishes a  typical  example  of  the  west-central  portion  of  the 
interior  Continental  basin.  As  described  by  llayden.  this 
State  may  be  divided  into  two  portions,  one  agricultural  and 
the  other  pastoral.  The  eastern  part,  included  in  the  Prairie 
plains,  contains  some  of  the  most  beautiful,  gently  rolling, 
and  fertile  agricultural  lands  in  America.  But  the  western 
part  is  a  treeless,  almost  waterless  plain;  yet  thick,  low, 
sweet,  nutritious  grasses  cover  the  entire  surface,  and  ren- 
der it  well  adapted  for  the  raising  of  large  numbers  of 
horses,  cattle,  and  sheep.  Over  western  Nebraska  not 
more  than  15  or  20  inches  of  moisture  fall  annually;  the 
snows  of  winter  are  very  light  and  soon  pass  away,  the 
winds  rapidly  gathering  them  into  the  valleys  and  gorges, 
leaving  vast  areas  entirely  bare.  The  grasses,  instead  of 
decaying, as  in  all  temperate  countries  with  a  humid  climate, 
slowly  wither,  retaining  all  their  nutritious  qualities,  and 
thus  continue  until  April  or  May.  when  the  fresh  shoots 
spring  up,  so  that  all  kinds  of  stock  thrive  throughout  the 
winter  on  the  open  plains  without  artificial  shelter.  In  this 
account,  however,  the  author  cited  fails  to  note  that  the 
winters  are  frequently  marked  by  exceedingly  severe  storms 
termed  blizzards,  during  which  gales  blow  while  the  tem 
perature  is  far  below  freezing,  and  that  at  such  times  cattle 
have  been  known  to  perish  by  thousands. 

In  late  summer  and  autumn  the  streams  in  this  portion 


H4  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  the  plateau  region  for  the  most  part  become  dry,  al- 
though water  may  usually  be  discovered  at  long  intervals 
in  pools  in  their  beds.  In  ascending  the  valleys  the  water 
appears  and  disappears  as  if  by  magic.  Here  one  finds  a 
swift-running  stream  several  yards  broad,  and  then  for  a 
considerable  distance  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  a  dry  and 
dusty  creek  bed,  resembling  a  sunken  roadway.  Even  the 
broad  Platte  has  so  far  forgotten  itself  for  several  seasons  as 
to  cease  to  be  a  running  stream.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a 
river  originating  in  the  mountains  on  the  west  to  be  con- 
siderably larger  towards  its  source  than  near  its  mouth. 
Many  of  the  important  streams  that  flow  from  the  Black 
Hills  towards  the  Missouri  are  lost  on  their  way  through 
the  plains.  The  Yellowstone  and  the  Missouri,  the  two 
most  important  rivers  crossing  the  Great  plateaus  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  United  States,  retain  their  exist- 
ence throughout  the  year,  although  becoming  greatly 
shrunken  in  autumn,  and  send  eastward  a  never-ceasing 
tribute  to  the  Mississippi. 

Northern  Extension  of  the  Great  Plateaus. — The  Great 
plateaus  cross  the  United  States-Canadian  boundary  and 
extend  northwestward  through  the  western  portion  of  As- 
siniboia  and  Saskatchewan,  and  embrace  nearly  the  whole 
of  Alberta  and  western  Athabasca.  At  the  international 
boundary  the  plateau  region  is  about  470  miles  broad,  and 
extends  from  longitude  1030  30'  westward  to  the  foot-hills 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  this  region  embraces  what 
is  frequently  termed  the  third  prairie  steppe,  known  in  part 
as  the  Missouri  Coteau.  The  east  border  of  this  high  pla- 
teau throughout  much  of  its  extent  is  well  marked  by  an 
escarpment  which  descends  some  300  or  400  feet  to  the 
second  prairie  steppe,  which  together  with  the  first  or  most 
easterly  of  the  series,  embracing  the  Red  River  Valley,  is 
usually  considered  as  belonging  to  the  Prairie  plains.  The 
third  steppe  in  the  series,  or  the  one  extending  from  the 
Red  River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  has  an  elevation  along 
its  eastern  border  of  about  2,000  feet,  rises  gradually  to  the 
westward,  and  attains  a  general  elevation  of  over  4,000 
feet  on  its  western  border.    All  of  the  region  of  the  Great 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     115 

plateaus  north  of  the  international  boundary,  with  the 
exception  of  about  20,000  square  miles  tributary  to  the 
Missouri,  is  drained  by  rivers  flowing  eastward  to  Hudson 
Bay  or  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  It  is  thus  a  portion 
of  the  northern  or  arctic  slope  of  the  Continental  basin. 
The  eastern  border  of  the  plateau  country  trends  northwest- 
ward, and  finally  reaches  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  head  waters  of  the  Mackenzie,  but  as  this  region 
is  but  imperfectly  explored,  our  knowledge  of  the  bound- 
aries of  the  natural  division  of  the  continent  we  have  been 
endeavouring  to  trace  there  becomes  indefinite.  The  Great 
plateaus  in  Canada  merge  into  the  Prairie  plain*  bordering 
them  on  the  east,  and  in  large  part  the  position  of  the  divid- 
ing-line between  the  two  is  arbitrary. 

The  portion  of  the  Great  plateaus  in  Canada,  like  the 
similar  region  to  the  south,  is  covered  with  bunch-grass, 
which  dries  as  it  stands  and  forms  highly  nutritious  self- 
cured  hay.  Formerly  this  region  was  the  winter  feeding- 
ground  for  vast  herds  of  bison.  The  winters,  although  cold, 
are  not  characterized  by  a  heavy  snowfall,  and  even  in  mid- 
winter the  warm  dry  chinook  winds,  as  they  are  termed,  sim- 
ilar to  the  fochii  winds  of  Switzerland,  frequently  cause  the 
snow  to  disappear  and  leave  the  brown  plateau  surfaces  free 
for  grazing.  Now  that  the  bison  has  disappeared,  this  im- 
mense region  is  favourable  in  many  ways  for  stock-raising, 
but,  unlike  the  lower  prairies  to  the  east  with  their  rich 
black  soil  and  long  hot  summers,  is  not  suitable  for  agri- 
culture. The  main  difficulties  in  the  way  of  successful 
farming  lie  in  the  dryness  of  the  summers,  and  the  scarcity 
of  water  available  for  irrigation.  The  rivers  flow  in  valleys 
several  hundred  feet  below  the  general  plateau  surface-,  and 
hence  cannot  be  made  available  for  irrigating  the  uplands 
without  too  great  an  expense.  In  the  bottoms  of  the  \ al- 
leys, however,  adjacent  to  the  stream,  limited  areas  are  now 
under  cultivation,  and  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  wheat- 
fields  of  the  prairie  region  will  be  gradually  extended  into 
the  valley  to  the  westward,  and  perhaps  even  to  the  eastern 
margin  of  the  plateaus.  A  greater  extension  of  the  wheat- 
belt  to  the  north  and  west  than  is  now  thoughl  practicable 


116  NORTH    AMERICA 

has  been  predicted,  but  what  the  ultimate  limit  will  be  can- 
not be  told. 

The  Black  Hills  of  Dakota. — As  stated  in  the  brief  ac- 
count already  given  of  the  Prairie  plains,  their  monotony 
of  surface  and  of  geological  structure  is  broken  by  a  single 
area  of  disturbance  termed  the  Ozark  uplift.  Similarly,  the 
vast  generally  level  expanse  of  the  Great  plateaus  is  broken 
by  a  single  rudely  circular  region  of  elevation,  the  Black 
Hills  of  Dakota,  which  has  been  sculptured  by  atmospheric 
agencies  and  given  a  diversified  topography,  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  even  monotony  of  the  country  surround- 
ing it. 

This  protuberance  on  the  surface  of  the  Great  plateaus 
is  situated  in  the  southwest  portion  of  South  Dakota,  and 
embraces  also  a  part  of  Wyoming,  and  about  140  miles  east 
of  the  nearest  range — the  Big  Horn  Mountains — of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  chain.  It  rises  from  the  surrounding  pla- 
teau to  a  height  on  an  average  of  about  2,000  to  2,500 
feet;  the  highest  summit,  Harney  Peak,  is  3,000  feet  above 
the  plain,  and  7,216  feet  above  the  sea.  The  uplift  is  ellip- 
tical in  ground  plan,  with  a  northwest  and  southeast  axis 
measuring  about  120  miles,  and  a  transverse  diameter  of  40 
to  50  miles.  Its  area  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  6,000 
square  miles. 

While  the  generally  level  plateau  surface  about  the 
Black  Hills  is  treeless,  except  for  the  scattered  groves  of 
wide-spreading  cottonwoods  along  the  immediate  banks  of 
the  larger  streams,  the  central  and  higher  portions  of  the 
elevation  itself  is  clothed  with  an  open  but  abundant  forest, 
consisting  principally  of  pines.  The  evergreen  forests  give 
to  the  hills  a  nearly  black  colour  when  seen  from  a  distance, 
and  have  gained  for  them  the  name  they  bear. 

The  rocks  which  have  been  forced  upward  so  as  to  form 
the  Black  Hills  dome  were  previously  like  those  in  the  sur- 
rounding plain,  quite  horizontal,  and  had  a  vertical  thick- 
ness of  at  least  5,000  feet.  The  uplift,  if  uneroded,  would 
rise  from  the  surrounding  plain  as  a  flat-topped  dome  about 
6,600  feet  high,  as  is  suggested  by  the  highest  dotted  line 
in  the  following  diagram.     In  reality  such  a  dome  never 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     117 

existed,  for  the  reason  that  its  growth  was  slow,  and  per- 
haps is  not  completed  even  at  the  present  day,  and  as  soon 
as  the  rocks  began  to  rise,  the  rain,  wind,  streams,  etc., 
commenced  their  task  of  destruction.  The  higher  the 
rocks  were  elevated  the  more  powerfully  those  agencies 
acted.  The  top  of  the  dome  was  soon  broken  and  its  inter- 
nal structure  revealed. 

By  reference  to  the  accompanying  generalized  section 
through  the  Black  Hills,  which  as  the  uplift  is  rudely  circular 
would  be  essentially  the  same  if  taken  in  any  direction 
through  the  elevated  region,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a 
central  core  of  slate,  schists,  and  granite  which  has  been 
forced  upward  so  as  to  stand  in  its  present  eroded  condition ; 


6  5431  22  1345 

Fig.  iS. — Ideal  east-and-west  section  through  the  Black  Hills.  The  verti- 
cal scale  is  about  six  times  the  horizontal.  The  dotted  lines  indicate 
the  portion  of  the  uplift  removed  by  erosion.     After  Henry  Newton. 

1.  Archean  slates  and  schists.  5-  Red  Beds  (Trias),  sandstone  with  included 

2.  Granite.  6.  Jura,  shales.  [limestone. 

3.  Potsdam,  sandstone,  resting  uncon-  7.  Cretaceous,  shales. 

formably  on  1  and  2.  8.  White  River  Tertiary,  shales,  resting  un- 

4.  Carboniferous,  mostly  limestone.  conformably  on  7. 

it  rises  well  above  the  surface  of  the  adjacent  plateau. 
About  this  central  core  the  upturned  edges  of  the  sedi- 
mentary rocks  form  concentric  zones,  the  oldest  in  the 
series  being  next  the  schists,  and  the  youngest  10  to  4°  or 
50  miles  distant.  It  is  the  presence  in  the  central  part  of  the 
hills  of  an  area  of  resistant  crystalline  rocks  which  have 
weathered  into  rugged  forms,  and  the  series  of  encircling 
and  concentric  belts  of  rock  of  varying  degrees  of  hardness 
and  solubility,  that  has  given  to  the  uplift  its  present  pecul- 
iar relief  and'  its  generally  beautiful  scenery.  The  edges  oi 
the  harder  belts  form  bold  hills  and  ridges,  while  the  softer 
belts  have  been  eroded  into  valleys.  This  sen.-  of  sharp 
crested  ridges  and  intervening  valleys  forms  concentric  cir- 

9 


i  iS  NORTH    AMERICA 

cles  completely  surrounding  the  central  group  of  rugged 
mountains.  The  largest  and  most  interesting  of  the  ring- 
like valleys  is  underlaid  by  red  sandstone,  and  is  remarkable 
for  its  flaming  colour  as  well  as  for  its  exceptional  form. 
In  this  Red  Valley  one  may  ride  entirely  around  the  rugged 
central  mass  of  the  hills,  on  a  generally  level  surface,  which 
is  inclosed  on  its  outer  border  by  a  precipitous  wall  of  yel- 
lowish sandstone  and  shale  300  or  400  feet  high.  The  dis- 
tance about  this  "  race-course,"'  as  it  is  sometimes  termed,  is 
about  200  miles.  This  series  of  concentric  ridges  and  inter- 
vening valleys,  surrounding  a  high  and  rugged  region  of 
more  resistant  rock,  furnish  an  admirable  illustration  of  the 
influence  of  rock  texture,  hardness,  etc.,  on  topography. 

Another  instructive  geographical  lesson  afforded  by  the 
Black  Hills  is  the  manner  in  which  the  portion  of  the  dome 
rising  above  the  level  of  the  rivers  which  flow  across  the 
surrounding  plain  has  been  dissected  by  stream  erosion. 
The  streams  originating  in  the  central  portion  of  the  uplift 
flowed  outward  in  all  directions,  and  have  cut  deep  narrow 
gorges  through  the  ridges  of  hard  rock  in  the  base  of  the 
truncated  dome.  Some  20  streams  originating  in  the  cen- 
tral portion  of  the  uplift  cross  Red  Valley  and  escape 
through  notches  in  its  outer  wall,  about  16  of  which  are 
well-defined  gateways  leading  to  the  encircling  plateau. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  instructive  ex- 
amples of  consequent  drainage — that  is,  of  streams  whose 
direction  has  been  determined  by  the  inclination  of  the 
surface  over  which  they  flow — thus  far  discovered.  Still 
another  feature  of  much  geographical  interest  is  furnished 
by  the  rivers  on  the  adjacent  plain,  two  of  which,  branches 
of  the  Cheyenne  River,  cross  the  north  and  south  ex- 
tensions, respectively,  of  the  Black  Hills  dome.  These 
streams  flow  directly  across  the  arched  strata,  in  canons 
of  their  own  making,  and,  as  explained  by  G.  K.  Gilbert, 
are  illustrations  of  superimposed  drainage — that  is.  the  por- 
tions of  the  dome  crossed  by  the  branches  of  the  Cheyenne 
after  the  rocks  were  upheaved  were  covered  by  soft  hori- 
zontal lake  beds,  over  which  the  water  flowed  as  conse- 
quent streams.     The  rivers  deepened  their  channels  and 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     119 

cut  through  the  soft  cover  of  horizontal  rock  and  into  the 
arched  beds  beneath.  The  course  of  the  streams  initi- 
ated on  the  covering  of  soft  beds  were  maintained,  as  the 
flowing  water  charged  with  sand  cut  downward  into  the 
harder,  upturned  beds  beneath,  and  now,  the  covering  of 
soft  beds  having  been  eroded  away,  the  rivers  flow  directly 
across  (or  through)  the  flanks  of  the  great  arch,  but  are  not 
deflected  by  it. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Black  Hills,  and  especially 
about  their  northern  and  northwestern  border,  there  are 
secondary  hills  formed  by  the  upward  protrusion  of  molten 
rocks  into  the  generally  horizontally  stratified  rocks  under- 
lying the  plateau.  These  intrusions  did  not  reach  the  sur- 
face in  such  a  way  as  to  form  volcanoes,  but  were  forced 
upward,  raising  domes  above  them,  in  which  the  structure 
is  similar  to  that  in  the  great  Black  Hills  dome.  These  sec- 
ondarv  domes  have  been  eaten  away  by  erosive  agencies  in 
varying  degrees.  In  some  of  them,  as  the  Little  Sundance 
Hill,  near  the  town  of  Sundance,  Wyoming,  the  dome  of 
stratified  rock  is  unbroken,  and  no  igneous  rock  is  to  be  seen ; 
other  neighbouring  domes  in  which  the  plutonic  magmas 
rose  higher  have  been  eroded  so  as  to  expose  the  summit 
portion  of  the  inner  core;  and  in  one  instance,  known  as 
Mato  Tepee,  the  uncovering  of  the  plug  of  plutonic  rock 
which  caused  the  uplift  is  so  complete  that  it  now  forms  a 
prominent  fluted  column  over  600  feet  high  above  its  im- 
mediate base. 

Volcanic  Mountains  and  Table-Lands. — In  the  south-cen- 
tral portion  of  the  Great  plateaus  in  southwestern  Colorado 
and  eastern  Xew  Mexico,  there  are  several  typical  cinder 
cones  with  lava  flows  associated  with  them,  which  impart 
novel  topographic  forms  to  the  general  monotony  of  the 
broad  plateau  surfaces.  The  highest  of  the  extinct  vol- 
canoes in  this  region  is  Mount  Capulin,  situated  in  north- 
eastern Xew  Mexico,  about  200  miles  east  of  the  Rocky 
.Mountains,  which  rises  2.750  feet  above  the  surrounding 
plain,  and  has  an  elevation  of  about  o.<>(),>  feet  above  the 
sea.  At  the  summit  of  this  conical  mass  there  is  a  well- 
defined  crater  a  mile  in  diameter.     In  the  same  region  then- 


120  NORTH    AMERICA 

are  several  other  similar  volcanic  cones,  from  which  lava 
streams  have  descended.  As  has  been  pointed  out  by  R.  T. 
Hill,  these  are  the  most  easterly  volcanoes  of  recent  geolog- 
ical age  in  North  America.  They  were  formed  after  the 
Tertiary  rocks  of  the  Llano  were  laid  down. 

The  Raton  Mesa,  situated  between  Mount  Capulin  and 
the  front  range  of  the  Rockies,  is  capped  by  a  lava  flow  of 
more  ancient  date  than  the  volcanoes  just  referred  to,  which 
has  protected  the  softer  rocks  beneath  from  erosion,  and 
now  stands  as  a  prominent  table-land  with  precipitous 
borders. 

THE    PACIFIC    MOUNTAINS 

To  the  west  of  the  Continental  basin  is  a  vast  cordillera 
composed  of  numerous  mountain  chains  which  extends 
from  south-central  Mexico  northward  to  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
and  in  its  broadest  part  is  about  1,000  miles  wide.  As  al- 
ready explained,  we  speak  of  this  region  in  its  entirety  as 
the  Pacific  cordillera,  or  less  technically  as  the  Pacific 
mountains.  It  is  a  highly  complex  group  of  mountain 
chains,  each  of  which  contains  two  or  more  distinct  moun- 
tain systems;  each  system,  again,  is  usually  composed  of 
many  ranges,  and  each  range  is  frequently  made  up  of  a 
multitude  of  ridges,  peaks,  buttes,  mesas,  etc.;  there  are 
also  many  plateaus  more  or  less  completely  dissected  by 
erosion,  and  broad  valleys,  as  well  as  numerous  canons, 
gulches,  ravines,  arroyas,  and  other  secondary  topographic 
forms.  This  vast  cordillera  not  only  contains  mountains 
produced  by  the  folding  of  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust, 
in  a  general  way  similar  to  the  Appalachians  in  structure, 
but  also  upturned  blocks  many  miles  in  extent,  bounded  by 
breaks  or  faults,  and  volcanic  mountains,  vast  lava  flows, 
and  elevations  due  to  the  injection  of  molten  rock  into  the 
earth's  crusts  so  as  to  elevate  domes.  In  fact,  scarcely  any 
topographic  form  and  no  important  geological  structure 
that  is  known  is  lacking  in  this  great  family  of  mountains 
which  dominates  the  western  portion  of  the  continent. 

The  Pacific  mountains  begin  abruptly  at  the  south, 
along  a  generally  east  and  west  line  passing  some  75  miles 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     121 

south  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  where  the  precipitous  border 
of  the  table-land  of  central  Mexico  overlooks  a  lower  re- 
gion to  the  south  which  is  diversified  by  many  volcanic 
mountains.  But  little  accurate  information  is  available  con- 
cerning the  geology  and  geography  of  Mexico,  but  in  gen- 
eral, as  is  well  known,  there  are  three  main  mountain  belts 
which  traverse  that  republic.  One  of  these  mountain  belts 
is  adjacent  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  another  is  situated 
near  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  main  portion  of  the  republic, 
while  the  third  forms  the  rugged  and  irregular  axis  of  the 
peninsula  of  Lower  California.  Between  the  leading  moun- 
tain belts  of  the  mainland  there  are  numerous  short  ranges 
and  many  nearly  level-floored  valleys.  The  general  level 
of  this  inland  region  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  6,000  feet, 
while  the  more  prominent  peaks  and  crests  attain  eleva- 
tions of  from  10,000  to  12,000  feet.  The  general  trend  of 
the  main  mountain  belts,  and  of  the  numerous  subordinate 
ranges,  is  about  northwest  and  southeast.  For  this  reason, 
and  also  because  the  valleys  have  become  deeply  filled 
with  debris  from  the  mountains,  travelling  in  directions 
leading  north  and  south  is  facilitated  by  the  topography, 
while  in  passing  from  one  coast  of  the  republic  to  the 
other  the  rugged  bordering  mountain  belts  have  to  be 
crossed  and  detours  made  in  order  to  pass  around  the  cen- 
tral mountain  ranges. 

The  more  elevated  portion  of  central  and  northern  Mex- 
ico, together  with  the  peninsula  of  Lower  California,  has  an 
arid  climate,  to  which  many  of  the  conspicuous  features  in 
the  geography  of  the  land  are  due.  The  precipitation  over 
large  areas  is  insufficient  to  maintain  permanent  streams, 
the  vegetation  is  nearly  all  of  a  desert-like  character,  and 
several  basins  exist  which  do  not  drain  to  the  sea.  In  the 
interior  basins  there  are  saline  and  alkaline  lakes,  and 
numerous  dry  lake  beds  or  playas,  which  are  whitened  by 
saline  efflorescences.  The  rocks  exposed  in  the  mountains 
are  largely  of  sedimentary  origin,  but  a  characteristic  fea 
ture  is  the  geology,  especially  to  the  west,  in  the  presence 
of  extensive  volcanic  areas  and  lofty  mountains  of  igneous 
rocks. 


122  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  Pacific  cordillera  begins  in  southern  Mexico  with 
a  width  of  some  300  miles  and  broadens  when  traced  north- 
ward. At  the  boundary  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States  it  has  a  width  of  fully  700  miles,  but  reaches  its  great- 
est breadth  in  the  latitude  of  San  Francisco  and  Denver, 
where  it  is  about  1,000  miles  across.  In  its  better  known, 
but  as  yet  incompletely  studied  portion  embraced  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  there  are  several  im- 
portant subdivisions,  such  as  the  Rocky  Mountain  belt  on 
the  east;  a  less  lofty,  but  yet  rugged  central  region,  termed 
the  Great  Basin,  characterized  by  having  a  dry  climate  and 
by  the  fact  that  the  streams  do  not  reach  the  ocean;  and 
a  western  mountain  chain  which  includes  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada and  Cascade  Ranges.  To  the  west  of  the  mountains 
just  named  lies  the  great  valley  of  California,  and  similar 
regions  in  Oregon  and  Washington  occupied  in  part  by 
Puget  Sound.  To  the  west,  again,  are  the  several  ranges 
bordering  the  Pacific  coast  from  Lower  California  to  Van- 
couver Island,  and  termed  in  a  general  way  the  coast  moun- 
tains. Each  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  Pacific  mountain 
region  has  its  indefinitely  known  southern  terminus  in  Mex- 
ico, and  extends  northward  to  beyond  the  Canadian  bound- 
ary. As  this  central  portion  of  the  most  westerly  of  the 
larger  geographical  divisions  of  the  continent  is  well  devel- 
oped in  the  United  States,  and  has  there  been  more  care- 
fully explored  than  elsewhere,  a  review  of  its  leading  fea- 
tures will  serve  to  give  as  good  an  idea  of  the  entire  Pacific 
mountain  region  as  is  now  practicable. 

The  Rocky  Mountains. — The  limitations  to  the  north  and 
south  of  the  region  to  which  this  name  is  more  or  less  spe- 
cifically applied  are  not  well  defined.  Perhaps  the  most  ac- 
curate statement  at  present  permissible  is  that  the  Rocky 
Mountains  begin  at  the  south,  in  northern  Mexico,  and 
extend  northward  across  the  United  States  and  Canada  to 
near  the  shore  of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  On  the  east  it  is  sharply 
defined  by  its  junction  with  the  Great  plateaus.  Its  western 
border,  although  less  definite  than  the  eastern,  is  easily 
traced,  at  least  across  the  greater  portion  of  the  United 
States,  by  the  marked  contrast  it  presents  to  the   geo- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     123 

graphical  conditions  characteristic  of  the  Great  Basin 
region,  but  owing  to  the  many  difficulties  met  with  in 
attempting  to  adjust  and  make  use  of  the  current  nomen- 
clature in  classifying  geographical  regions  more  or  less 
artificial  boundaries  have  to  be  accepted.  The  Great 
Basin  is  so  designated  because  it  is  a  region  of  interior 
drainage — that  is,  it  does  not  send  any  tribute  to  the  sea. 
Its  boundaries  are  therefore  the  crest-lines  of  the  surround- 
ing divides  or  water-partings.  The  Rocky  Mountains,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  defined  as  an  elevated  region,  the  bound- 
aries of  which  are  determined  by  relief  and  not  by  drainage. 
The  basis  of  classification  in  these  two  instances  is  not 
the  same,  and  one  province  overlaps  the  other.  The 
streams  flowing  westward  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  into  t 
the  Great  Basin — such,  for  example,  as  Bear,  Provo,  and 
Sevier  Rivers  in  Utah — have  their  sources  well  within 
the  Rocky  Mountain  province  as  defined  by  uplift,  but 
vet  lie  wholly  within  the  Great  Basin  province  as  de- 
fined by  drainage.  In  spite  of  this  inconsistency,  geogra- 
phers recognise  as  the  western  border  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains the  irregular  and  in  part  indefinite  line  where  the  ele- 
vated region  breaks  down  and  meets  the  broad  level-floored 
valleys  characteristic  of  the  Great  Basin.  This  line,  or  more 
properly  belt  of  country,  although  indefinite  at  the  south, 
may  for  convenience  be  taken  as  beginning  at  the  head 
of  the  Gulf  of  California,  and  extending  up  the  Colorado 
River  for  about  300  miles,  to  where  that  river  makes  an 
abrupt  bend,  turning  southward  after  a  westerly  course 
through  the  ( irand  Canon.  From  the  locality  indicated,  the 
boundary  passes  through  central  Utah,  and  is  sharply  de- 
fined for  most  of  the  way  by  the  bold  western  escarpment 
of  the  Wasatch  Range.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Great 
Salt  Lake  the  border  of  the  mountain  belt  trends  more 
and  more  to  the  northwest,  crosses  Idaho  diagonally,  and 
in  northern  Washington  merges  with  or  closely  approaches 
the  <  Cascade  Mountains.    In  this  northern  region  the  b< irder 

of  the    Rocky    Mountains   is  again   indefinite,  and    until   the 

►logical  structure  of  western  <  lanada  is  more  thoroughly 

studied  can  only  be  located  provisionally. 


124  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  nomenclature  at 
present  applied  to  the  larger  topographic  features  of  North 
America  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  to  the  north  of  the 
United  States-Canadian  boundary  the  term  Rocky  Moun- 
tains is  much  more  restricted  than  is  the  custom  in  the 
United  States.  In  Canada  this  name  is  applied  to  the  most 
easterly  of  the  ranges  or  chains  of  the  Pacific  cordillera. 
This  difference  in  the  significance  of  the  name  referred  to  on 
the  opposite  sides  of  the  international  boundary  is  unfor- 
tunate, but  is  due  in  large  part  to  our  ignorance  of  the  geog- 
raphy and  geology  not  only  immediately  along  the  bound- 
ary line,  but  generally  throughout  the  rugged  region  of 
the  northwest  portion  of  the  continent. 

One  of  the  most  important  geographic  features  in  the 
central  part  of  the  United  States  is  the  presence  in  Wyo- 
ming of  a  broad,  generally  flat,  region  known  as  the  Laramie 
plateau  (plains)  and  its  extension  westward  across  nearly 
the  entire  width  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  general  ele- 
vation of  these  "  plains  "  is  about  7,000  feet,  or  approxi- 
mately 1,000  feet  greater  than  that  of  the  western  border  of 
the  Great  plateaus.  The  Laramie  plateau  and  country  to 
the  west  having  a  similar  topography,  furnished  a  conve- 
nient pass  for  the  Union  Pacific,  the  oldest  of  the  transcon- 
tinental railroads,  and  divides  the  Rocky  Mountain  belt 
into  two  portions,  which  may  be  termed  in  a  general  way 
the  northern  and  southern  Rocky  Mountains  respectively. 

To  the  north  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  there  are 
several  important  mountain  groups,  termed  collectively  the 
Stony  Mountains  by  Lewis  and  Clark  in  the  report  of  their 
bold  explorations  across  the  continent  in  1804,  but  not 
generally  used  since  that  time.  This  name  has  recently 
been  revived  by  J.  W.  Powell  as  a  convenient  term  by 
which  to  designate  this  large  division  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain belt,  but  unfortunately  is  not  recognised  and  has  no 
significance  to  the  north  of  the  international  boundary. 
What  the  natural  limitations  of  the  Stony  Mountains  may 
be  in  Canada  remains  to  be  determined. 

The  Stony  Mountain  system  includes  the  Big  Horn 
Mountains  in  north-central  Wyoming,  the  sharp  and  lofty 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     125 

Teton  Range  to  the  south  of  the  Yellowstone  National 
Park,  and  several  other  rugged  uplifts  of  great  extent  in 
Montana  and  Idaho,  and  should  the  name  be  extended  to 
the  north  of  the  international  boundary  until  a  natural  limit 
is  reached,  it  will  include  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  Canadian 
geographers  (the  most  eastern  of  the  great  uplifts  consti- 
tuting the  Rocky  Mountain  belt),  together  with  the  several 
ranges  of  the  Gold  Mountains.  These  several  mountain 
ranges  and  groups  of  ranges  appear  to  have  diverse  geolog- 
ical structure,  but  their  histories  are  by  no  means  thoroughly 
understood.  Some  of  them,  as  stated  by  Powell,  are  carved 
out  of  broad  folds,  and  involve  both  originally  deeply  seated 
igneous  and  metamorphic  rocks  and  upturned  and  folded 
sedimentary  beds;  while  others  are  due  to  movements  along 
lines  of  fracture  and  in  part  of  overthrust. 

The  Stony  Mountains  form  a  portion  of  the  continental 
divide  which  parts  the  waters  flowing  to  the  Pacific  from 
those  that  find  their  way  to  the  Atlantic.  The  thousands  of 
streams  tributary  to  the  Missouri  head  against  the  equally 
numerous  fountains  supplying  the  westward-flowing  Co- 
lumbia. The  broad  valleys  between  the  several  ranges  have 
a  general  elevation  of  between  7,000  and  8,000  feet,  and  the 
bold,  massive  mountains  rise  from  10,000  to  over  13.000 
feet  above  the  sea.  Owing  to  the  considerable  elevation 
even  of  the  valleys,  and  the  northern  position  of  the  region 
here  considered,  as  well  as  its  distance  from  the  equalizing 
influence  of  the  sea,  the  extremes  of  climate  are  strongly 
marked.  The  summer  season  is  comparatively  short,  and 
in  the  valleys  the  heat  is  intense  (ranging  from  900  to  [12 
F.)  and  the  rainfall  small  or  none  at  all,  while  the  winter 
season  is  cold  (temperatures  of  from  — 15  to  — 300  I". 
being  frequent)  and  accompanied  by  an  abundant  snowfall, 
especially  on  the  mountains.  Agriculture,  although  carried 
on  in  the  valleys,  is  of  comparatn  ely  small  imp*  »rtance,  and 
is  usually  dependent  on  irrigation.  The  mountains  are 
snow-covered  through  much  of  the  year,  and  small  glaciers 
occur  about  the  lofty  summits  of  the  Teton  Range  and  on 
tile  mountains  near  the  international  boundary  and  in 
Canada.    The  valleys  are  generally  destitute  of  trees  except 


126  NORTH    AMERICA 

along  the  streams, where white-trunked  cottonwoods  spread 
their  green  leaves  in  summer  and  become  a  tracery  of  golden 
yellow  in  the  autumn,  marking  the  courses  of  the  life-giving 
waters.  The  lower  mountain  slopes  are  covered  with  dark 
forests  of  pine,  spruce,  and  juniper,  which  increase  in  den- 
sity and  extent  as  one  follows  the  ranges  northward  until 
the  influence  of  the  high  northern  latitude  is  felt,  and  in 
northern  Canada  the  zone  of  the  subarctic  forest  is  reached. 

In  the  central  part  of  the  Stony  Mountains  is  situated 
the  justly  famed  Yellowstone  National  Park,  which  is  truly 
remarkable  for  its  fine  scenery,  its  deeply  carved  and  gor- 
geously colored  canons,  and  most  of  all  for  its  numerous  hot 
springs  and  spouting  geysers.  This  is  the  only  geyser  re- 
gion on  the  continent,  and  the  most  extensive  of  the  three 
now  existing  in  the  world. 

The  finest  scenery  of  the  northern  division  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  belt  lies  to  the  north  of  the  international  bound- 
ary, and  within  recent  years  has  been  rendered  accessible  by 
the  building  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad.  It  is  in  this 
region  that  the  mountains  are  highest,  most  rugged,  and 
clothed  most  completely  with  the  dark,  sombre,  evergreen 
northern  forests.  Here,  too,  high  up  among  the  bare 
serrate  mountain  tops,  and  mostly  above  the  timber-line, 
are  found  the  largest  of  the  glaciers  in  the  Rocky  Mountain 
belt.  This  wonderful  region  of  rugged  mountains,  deep 
and  formerly  glacier-filled  valleys,  impetuous  rivers,  and 
dense  forests  has  only  recently  become  known  to  the  world 
at  large.  Vast  areas,  no  doubt  as  attractive  as  those  about 
Bamf,  Lake  Louise,  Glacier  House,  etc.,  already  famous, 
remain  to  be  discovered  and  described. 

In  the  fastnesses  of  these  wild  northern  Rockies 
moose,  elk,  deer,  bear,  mountain  sheep,  and  mountain  goat 
still  abound.  The  buffalo  (bison)  is  protected  in  the  Yel- 
lowstone National  Park,  and  will  probably  be  preserved 
from  extinction.  A  small  herd  also  survives  in  Canada. 
The  streams,  except  those  flowing  from  glaciers,  are 
bright,  clear,  and  swift,  and  are  well  stocked  with  fish.  The 
trout,  represented  by  several  species,  there  finds  the  cool 
retreats  so  essential  to  its   life.     To   the   sportsman  and 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     127 

skilled  angler  the  northern  Rockies  are  a  paradise.  Among 
the  lofty  mountains  and  in  the  larger  valleys  there  are 
many  lakes,  more  especially  in  northern  Idaho  and  Mon- 
tana and  in  Canada.  Many  of  these,  and  particularly  those 
near  the  heads  of  the  valleys  and  about  the  more  lofty  peaks, 
are  true  rock-basin  lakes,  worn  out  by  the  grinding  of  sand- 
charged  glacial  ice  when  the  glaciers  were  far  more  ex- 
tensive than  now.  The  large  lakes  situated  in  the  trunk 
portions  of  the  broad-bottomed  valleys  are  in  man}-  in- 
stances retained  by  dams  of  glacially  deposited  detritus  and 
record  the  changes  in  the  aspect  of  the  land  inherited  from 
the  Glacial  epoch.  These  numerous  lakes  present  a  vast 
variety  of  scenery,  and  in  many  instances  reflect  from  their 
placid  mirror-like  surfaces  as  beautiful  and  inspiring  pic- 
tures of  rugged  grandeur  as  can  be  found  in  the  world. 
The  natural  beauties  of  the  classical  lakes  of  Switzerland 
and  Italy  are  rivalled  by  many  of  the  charming  water  bodies 
of  the  northern  Rockies,  which  but  few  men  appreciative  of 
the  beauties  of  nature  have  ever  seen. 

To  the  south  of  the  Laramie  plateau  the  mountains 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  system  are  more  irregular  and  more 
lofty  than  those  to  the  north  of  that  break.  The  many 
rugged  ranges  in  southern  Wyoming,  Colorado,  and  north- 
ern Xew  Mexico  form  a  great  group,  to  which  the  name 
Park  Mountains  has  been  applied  by  J.  W.  Powell.  The 
several  ranges  composing  this  group  have  a  general  north 
and  south  trend,  to  which,  however,  an  exception  is  fur- 
nished by  the  Uintah  Mountains  in  southwestern  Wyoming 
and  eastern  Utah,  which  consists  of  a  deeply  dissected  east 
and  west  fold  or  broadly  uplifted  plateau.  Intervening  be- 
tween several  of  the  adjacent  ranges  there  are  wide,  nearly 
flat-bottomed  valleys,  which  owe  their  leading  characteris- 
tics to  the  deep  filling  of  depressions  by  debris  carried  from 
the  bordering  mountains  by  the  wind  and  streams.  These 
broad  valleys  surrounded  by  rugged  peaks  are  known  as 
parks,  and  the  numerous  ranges  among  which  they  are  sit- 
uated are  hence  designated  the  Park  Mountains.  The  tei  m 
by  which  the  valleys  are  known  is  in  some  respects  mislead 
ing,  as  the  word  park  usually  carries  the  idea  1  if  a  diversified 


128  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  in  part  forested  region,  with  mild,  picturesque  scenery. 
Perhaps  a  city  park  or  the  beautiful  rural  estates  of  Eng- 
land are  most  usually  brought  to  mind  when  the  term  re- 
ferred to  is  mentioned.  But  in  the  great  mountains  of  the 
central  portion  of  the  continent  one's  idea  must  expand  to 
keep  in  harmony  with  his  surroundings.  The  natural  parks 
of  that  region  are  broad,  generally  treeless,  valleys  with 
winding  streams,  the  uplands  are  grass-covered  and  rolling, 
and  in  distant  views  the  courses  of  the  streams  are  marked 
by  narrow  belts  of  verdure.  The  picture  is  framed  by  a  suc- 
cession of  mountain  domes  and  embattled  cliffs.  Over  all 
arches  the  dark  blue,  cloudless  sky  of  a  nearly  rainless 
region.  In  the  clear  air  distances  are  deceptive,  and  what 
appear  to  be  miles  to  the  novice  must  be  extended  to 
leagues  in  order  to  acquire  adequate  conceptions  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  scene. 

The  most  famous  of  the  great  tracts  of  generally  level 
land  surrounded  by  the  high  ranges  of  the  Park  Mountains 
is  San  Luis  Park,  situated  in  southeastern  Colorado  and 
extending  southward  into  New  Mexico,  which  has  a  length 
from  north  to  south  of  about  130  miles,  and  is  from  20  to 
nearly  40  miles  wide.  Its  general  elevation  is  between  7,000 
and  8,000  feet.  This  great  valley,  level-floored  with  soft  de- 
posits swept  in  from  the  bordering  highlands,  and  almost 
completely  surrounded  by  rugged  mountains,  although 
more  desolate  than  the  majority  of  the  numerous  similar 
valleys  in  the  same  region,  is  typical  of  its  class.  The  Rio 
Grande  winds  through  its  entire  length  and  many  streams 
rising  in  the  bordering  mountains  flow  to  the  valley  during 
the  winter  season,  but  in  summer,  owing  to  the  high  tem- 
perature, active  evaporation,  and  small  rainfall,  only  a  few  of 
the  larger  of  these  mountain-born  torrents  reach  the  main, 
southward-flowing  river.  In  the  southern  portions  of  the 
valley  large  areas  are  covered  with  drifting  sand,  which  is 
fashioned  by  the  winds  into  ever-changing  dunes  of  a 
creamy  whiteness.  Some  of  the  streams  from  the  mountains 
expand  on  the  plain  and  form  the  San  Luis  lakes,  from 
which  the  water  escapes  by  evaporation,  thus  causing  them 
to  become  alkaline.     The  land  bordering  the  lakes  is  whi- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     129 

tened  as  with  snow  by  saline  incrustations.  On  the  lower 
portion  of  the  rim  of  this  mountain-inclosed  basin  there 
are  scattered  groves  of  pines  and  junipers,  and  at  higher 
elevations  the  mountains  are  dark  with  forests.  The  more 
loftv  peaks,  however,  rise  far  above  the  upper  limit  of  the 
forests  and  are  rugged  and  magnificent  even  under  the  glare 
of  a  cloudless  sky. 

To  the  east  of  the  San  Luis  Park,  and  rising  about 
.  7,000  feet  over  it,  and  over  14,000  feet  above  the  sea,  stands 
Sierra  Blanca,  one  of  the  finest  of  the  many  majestic  moun- 
tains of  Colorado.  In  summer  immense  cloud  banks  fre- 
quently gather  about  this  cold,  isolated  peak,  and  local 
storms,  accompanied  by  fierce  lightning  and  echoing  thun- 
der, beat  upon  its  shrouded  sides.  These  tempests  raging 
on  the  mountain  top,  while  the  adjacent  valleys  are  flooded 
with  sunlight,  recall  the  scriptural  accounts  of  the  storms 
of  Mount  Sinai.  In  fact,  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
United  States  and  the  adjacent  region  in  Mexico,  so  far  as 
scenery  and  climatic  peculiarities  are  concerned,  have  much 
in  common  with  Palestine. 

The  other  great  parks  in  Colorado,  which  have  suggest- 
ed a  name  for  the  group  of  mountains  in  the  midst  of  which 
they  are  sheltered,  are  less  arid  and  less  desert-like  than  the 
one  just  described;  but  like  it,  derive  their  magnificence  and 
fascination  from  their  vast  extent,  the  sublimity  of  the  bor- 
dering mountains,  and  the  wonderful  transparency  of  the 
air  above  them,  rather  than  from  the  topography  of  their 
nearly  level  floors  or  the  vegetation  that  strives  ineffectually 
to  clothe  their  nakedness. 

The  individual  summits  as  well  as  the  separate  ranges 
composing  the  Park  Mountains  are  remarkable  for  their 
massiveness  and  the  great  height  of  their  bare  rounded 
summits  rather  than  for  picturesque  details.  Several  of  the 
peaks  aiv  among  the  highest  in  the  United  States.  One 
conspicuous  feature  is  the  considerable  elevation  <>t  the 
valleys,  usually  over  7.000  feet,  and  the  large  number  of 
lofty  summits.  '  »t  the  peaks  that  have  been  measured,  over 
30  exceed  14.000  feet  in  height.  The  portion  of  the  Park 
Mountains  above  an  elevation  of  10.000  feet,  as  is  indicated 


130  NORTH    AMERICA 

on  the  map  reproduced  on  page  65,  is  far  greater  in  area 
than  any  other  region  of  similar  altitude  on  the  continent. 

In  the  Park  Mountains,  and  generally  throughout  the 
southern  Rockies,  even  to  central  Mexico,  the  forms  that 
meet  the  eye  are  the  remnants  of  vast  upheaved  folds  and 
domes  of  the  earth's  crust  sculptured  and  degraded  by  ero- 
sion. The  nearly  horizontal  rocks  of  the  Great  plateaus 
on  meeting  the  eastern  border  of  the  mountains  are  bent 
abruptly  upward,  and  in  many  places  stand  on  edge  or 
have  been  overturned  so  as  to  dip  westward.  This  abrupt 
upward  bending  and  the  presence  of  remnants  of  the  same 
beds  on  the  summits  of  some  of  the  higher  mountains  shows 
that  the  strata  have  not  been  simply  folded  into  anticlinals 
and  synclinals,  but  that  there  has  been  a  thickening  and 
upswelling  of  the  rocks  beneath. 

In  the  northern  Rockies,  except  in  western  Idaho  and 
adjacent  portions  of  Washington  and  Oregon,  evidences  of 
recent  volcanic  activity  are  rare,  although  igneous  rocks 
cover  great  areas,  and  in  the  Yellowstone  Park  numerous 
geysers  and  hot  springs  bear  evidence  to  the  presence  of 
abnormal  heat  in  the  earth's  crust.  In  the  southern  Rock- 
ies, however,  volcanic  mountains  which  still  preserve  their 
forms  are  numerous  in  certain  regions,  and  in  Mexico  there 
are  mighty  volcanic  piles  and  many  lesser  elevations  built 
up  by  extrusion  of  molten  material,  some  of  which  are  still 
active.  Examples  are  furnished  of  volcanic  mountains 
ranging  from  perfect  cones  with  curved  slopes  typical  of  the 
forms  produced  by  the  piling  up  of  various  sized  fragments 
about  the  vents  from  which  they  were  extruded,  to  irregu- 
lar serrate  peaks  which  reveal  the  anatomy  of  the  dissected 
volcanic  masses,  and  even  the  dikes  which  remain  after  the 
surface  elevation  of  a  volcano  has  been  removed.  The  most 
modern  volcanoes  in  this  great  group  of  mountains  are 
situated  in  central  Mexico,  but  others  nearly  as  perfect  in 
form  occur  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona,  and  in  the 
plateaus  to  the  east  of  the  Park  Mountains.  The  Spanish 
peaks  in  southeastern  Colorado  are  instructive  illustrations 
of  the  topographic  forms  produced  when  a  volcanic  moun- 
tain has  been  deeply  dissected. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAXD     131 

In  the  formation  of  volcanic  mountains  there  is  an  ex- 
trusion of  molten  and  fragmentary  material  accompanied 
by  an  escape  of  great  volumes  of  steam  at  the  surface. 
Closely  related  to  this  phase  of  volcanism  is  the  injection 
of  molten  material  into  the  earth's  crust  from  below,  so  as 
to  force  its  way  between  stratified  beds  and  produce  in- 
truded sheets.  In  this  latter  process  the  sheets  of  injected 
material  may  be  thin  in  comparison  to  their  lateral  extent 
or  thick  lens-shaped  masses.  In  the  production  of  either 
of  these  forms  of  intrusion  the  cover  above  the  injected 
material  is  lifted  and  a  change  is  made  in  the  topography 
of  the  surface.  The  intrusions,  which  are  thick  in  compari- 
son to  their  lateral  extent,  are  known  as  laccoliths.  At  times 
intrusions  of  this  nature  are  of  such  thickness  that  they  pro- 
duce true  mountain  forms.  If  unmodified,  these  elevations 
would  be  domes,  but  when  their  surfaces  are  broken  by  ero- 
sion and  their  dissection  and  removal  progresses  they  fre- 
quently assume  rugged,  serrate  forms. 

The  tvpe  of  laccolithic  mountains  made  known  some 
years  since  by  the  studies  of  G.  K.  Gilbert  is  furnished  by 
the  Henry  Mountains,  in  southern  Utah.  More  recently 
it  has  been  found  that  this  interesting  phase  of  mountain 
building  is  illustrated  by  many  other  examples  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region  and  elsewhere. 

The  rocks  exposed  at  the  surface  in  the  southern  Rock- 
ies, as  in  the  northern  division  of  that  great  chain,  embrace 
almost  every  variety  which  enters  into  the  composition  of 
the  earth's  crust.  The  central  cores  of  many  of  the  now 
deeply  eroded  ranges  consist  of  granite  and  other  similar 
rocks,  and  are  surrounded  by  sedimentary  beds  which 
range  in  age  from  the  oldest  stratified  rocks  now  known  to 
the  youngest.  Igneous  rocks  in  great  variety  and  in  all 
forms  incident  to  an  extruded  or  volcanic  and  intruded 
or  plutofic  origin  are  present.  The  many  disturbances 
that  have  occurred  have  led  to  the  formation  of  mineral 
veins  and  the  impregnation  of  rock  masses  with  ores 
of  various  kinds — such  as  gold,  silver,  lead,  copper,  etc. 
— which  have  been  mined  witli  great  success  at  many 
localities. 


132  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  High  Plateaus. — To  the  west  and  south  of  the  Park 
Mountains,  and  situated  in  the  western  portions  of  Colo- 
rado and  New  Mexico,  eastern  and  southern  Utah,  and 
northern  Arizona,  there  is  an  extensive  region  having  a 
general  surface  level  of  6,000  to  7,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
known  as  the  High  plateaus.  This  region  has  suffered 
great  erosion  and  is  deeply  trenched  by  stream-carved 
canons.  Although  not  mountainous  in  the  ordinary  accept- 
ance of  the  term,  its  surface  is  rugged  and  difficult  to  trav- 
erse, particularly  on  account  of  the  deep  canons  that  inter- 
sect it  in  every  direction. 

The  High  plateaus  are  a  part  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region  and  bear  a  somewhat  similar  relation  to  the  Park 
Mountains  that  the  Alleghany  plateau  does  to  the  Appa- 
lachian Mountains.  Streams  flowing  westward  from  the 
Park  Mountains  and  from  the  southwestern  portion  of  the 
Stony  Mountains  unite  to  form  the  Colorado  River — the 
one  great  drainage  channel  of  the  region.  The  importance 
of  this  remarkable  river  in  the  history  of  the  land  has  led 
to  the  adoption  of  the  name  Colorado  plateau  by  Powell 
and  others  for  the  region  under  consideration.  As  with 
so  many  of  the  grander  geographical  units  of  the  continent, 
the  precise  limits  of  the  one  here  considered  are  difficult  to 
define;  but  in  spite  of  this  uncertainty  as  to  meets  and 
bounds,  the  now  classical  writings  of  Newberry,  Powell, 
and  Dutton  especially  have  shown  that  a  strange  and  won- 
derful land  exists  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  United  States, 
which  is  of  unusual  interest  to  geologists  and  geographers. 

The  High  plateaus  are  underlaid  by  nearly  horizontal 
rocks.  The  larger  elements  in  the  structure  are  great 
blocks  of  the  earth's  crust  measuring  some  60  to  100  miles 
on  their  various  borders,  which  are  bounded  by  breaks 
(faults),  or  by  what  are  termed  monoclinal  folds  or  a  change 
from  one  plateau  to  another  by  a  single  bend  in  the  strata. 
The  rocks  in  each  of  the  separate  plateaus  are  usually 
gently  tilted.  Their  eroded  edges  stand  as  lines  of  massive, 
gorgeously  coloured,  and  frequently  fantastically  sculp- 
tured cliffs.  These  cliffs,  when  seen  from  below,  appear  as 
rugged  mountain  ranges,  but  to  an  observer  standing  on 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     133 

their  deeply  sculptured  crests  are  easily  recognised  as  the 
upturned  edges  of  large  gently  tilted  blocks  of  the  earth's 
crust. 

The  basement  rocks  beneath  the  High  plateaus  are  very 
ancient  granites,  schists,  etc.,  which  formed  a  land  surface 
and  were  greatly  eroded  before  the  first  of  the  superim- 
posed stratified  beds  were  deposited  upon  them.  The  first 
of  the  sheets  of  sediment  laid  down  by  the  primeval  ocean 
belong  to  the  oldest  rocks  containing  records  of  life  that 
have  as  yet  been  recognised — the  Algonkian  (pre-Cam- 
brian)  terranes  of  modern  geology.  Above  these  come 
other  deposits  of  sandstone,  shales,  limestone,  etc.,  repre- 
senting a  wide  range  of  geological  history,  and  including 
as  the  upper  member  of  the  series  the  sediments  of  large 
Tertiary  lakes.  This  vast  succession  of  stratified  rocks, 
some  13.000  feet  in  thickness,  has  been  upraised  in  a  broad 
way.  without  the  crumpling  and  folding,  but  broken,  as 
stated  above,  into  great  blocks  which  are  now  variously  in- 
clined, but  still  preserve  a  plateau-like  character. 

Besides  the  movements  in  the  earth's  crust  which  raised 
the  plateaus  and  caused  fractures  and  simple  or  monoclinal 
folds  in  the  rocks  of  which  they  are  composed,  there  oc- 
curred volcanic  eruptions  which  produced  numerous  cinder 
cones,  extensive  lava-Hows,  and  widely  spread  sheets  of 
comminuted  material  known  as  lapilli,  dust,  and  so-called 
ashes. 

Although  the  history  recorded  in  the  rocks  forming  the 
High  plateaus  is  one  of  fascinating  geological  interest,  the 
easier  and  more  obvious  lesson  that  the  region  has  to  offer, 
more  especially  to  the  geographer,  has  been  engraved  and 
etched  on  its  surface  by  streams  and  wind-blown  sand. 

On  the  High  plateaus  the  rainfall  is  comparatively  small. 
and  the  streams  originating  there  mostly  ephemeral.  Bu1 
on  the  mountains  to  the  east  and  north  the  precipitation  is 
more  abundant  and  rivers  are  formed  which  flow  across  the 
plateau  region.  The  (  rreen  and  (  .rand  Rivers,  fed  by  many 
tributaries,  unite  to  form  the  Colorado,  which  flows  south- 
westward  for  some  700  mile-  and  discharges  it-  muddy 
water-  into  the  Gulf  of  Lower  California.  This  great  river 
10 


134  NORTH    AMERICA 

year  by  year  and  century  after  century  has  deepened  its 
channel  through  the  plateau  region  where  the  rainfall  is 
small,  more  rapidly  than  the  general  surface  has  been  low- 
ered by  erosion.  The  main  conditions  are  a  broad  area 
of  nearly  horizontal  rocks,  raised  high  above  the  sea  or 
above  the  base  level  of  erosion,  and  an  arid  climate;  cross- 
ing this  region  is  the  ever-flowing  river,  which,  acting  like 
an  endless  saw,  cuts  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  blocks  of 
the  earth's  crust  which  have  been  raised  athwart  its  course. 
Resulting  from  these  conditions  is  a  mighty  trench  or 
canon,  which  is  by  far  the  most  magnificent  of  its  kind 
in  North  America,  if  not  in  the  world.  Not  only  has  the 
main  river  sunken  its  channel  into  the  earth  to  a  depth  of 
more  than  a  mile  throughout  a  large  portion  of  its  course, 
but  each  tributary  stream  has  been  engaged  for  a  long 
period  of  time  in  a  similar  task.  Although  most  of  the 
streams  originating  on  the  surface  of  the  plateaus  are 
ephemeral,  they  work  rapidly  when  the  occasional  heavy 
rains  flood  their  channels.  This  deepening  of  the  stream 
channels,  while  their  borders  and  the  intervening  portions 
of  the  plateau  surface  suffered  but  comparatively  slight  ero- 
sion, has  produced  a  wonderful  system  of  deep  steep-sided 
trenches  in  the  borders  of  which  the  edges  of  the  dissected 
rocks  are  exposed  in  nearly  vertical  precipices. 

Aside  from  the  lessons  of  interest  to  the  geologist  and 
geographer  so  plainly  engraved  on  the  surfaces  of  the  pla- 
teaus crossed  by  the  Colorado,  the  region  has  a  wonderful 
fascination  for  the  purely  aesthetic  feelings  more  or  less, 
latent  in  every  human  breast.  To  one  traversing  the  open 
pine  forests,  in  places  clothing  the  plateaus  and  inclosing 
many  grassy  glades  and  flower-decked  parks,  in  which  timid 
deer  may  frequently  be  seen  feeding  in  the  early  morning, 
and  emerging  on  the  brink  of  the  Grand  Canon,  the  scene 
that  meets  the  eye  is  marvellous  beyond  all  description. 
C.  E.  Dutton,  to  whom  we  owe  some  of  the  most  graphic 
and  inspiring  descriptions  of  natural  scenery  ever  writ- 
ten, states  that  those  who  have  long  and  carefully  studied 
the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado  do  not  hesitate  for  a 
moment  in  pronouncing  it  the  most  sublime  of  all  earthly 


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6  NORTH    AMERICA 


spectacles.  "  If  its  sublimity,"  writes  Button,  "  consisted 
onlv  in  its  dimensions,  it  could  be  sufficiently  set  forth  in  a 
single  sentence.  It  is  more  than  200  miles  long,  from  5  to 
12  miles  wide,  and  from  5,000  to  6,000  feet  deep.  But  it  is 
not  magnitude  alone  that  gives  this  marvellous  canon  its 
prominence;  it  is  the  gorgeous  and  varied  colouring  of  its 
mighty  walls,  the  endless  details  in  the  sculpturing  of  its 
battlements  and  towers,  the  ever-changing  atmospheric  ef- 
fects of  its  profound  depths,  and  the  wonderful  stimulus  to 
the  imagination  with  which  it  feeds  the  mind.  Standing  on 
the  brink  of  the  Grand  Canon,  the  prosaic  search  for  causes 
and  effects  for  a  time  at  least  must  be  laid  aside,  and  give 
place  to  the  emotions." 

Wonderfully  grand  as  are  the  scenes  beheld  in  travers- 
ing this  region  of  high  plateaus,  with  its  magnificent  cliffs 
and  profound  canons,  one  is  constantly  reminded  that  it  is 
an  arid  land.  The  higher  portions  of  the  plateau,  it  is  true, 
are  in  places  forested,  but  over  vast  areas  the  rocks  are 
bare.  Water  is  everywhere  scarce  except  in  the  bottom 
of  the  larger  excavations.  Thirsty,  and  perhaps  perishing, 
the  traveller,  Tantalus  like,  looks  down  on  the  shining  sil- 
very threads  of  water  in  the  canons,  hundreds  and  even 
thousands  of  feet  below,  but  separated  from  them  by  im- 
passable barriers.  To  the  south  the  plateaus  descend  to 
the  desolate  valleys  of  southern  Arizona,  where  strange 
gigantic  cactus-plants  and  scattered  clumps  of  thorny 
shrubs  alone  break  the  dreary  monotony  of  the  hot  gravelly 
deserts.  Agriculture  is  there  impossible  without  irrigation, 
but  where  the  life-giving  waters  can  be  utilized,  as  in  the 
Gila  Valley,  marvellous  productiveness  follows. 

THE    GREAT    BASIN 

To  the  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  belt  in  the  United 
States  there  exists  a  region  embracing  about  210,000  square 
miles,  which  sends  no  stream  to  the  ocean.  This  vast  and 
in  large  part  desert  tract  is  known  as  the  Great  Basin.  The 
climate  is  characterized  by  its  aridity.  The  annual  pre- 
cipitation is  small  and  evaporation  active.     All  the  water 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     137 

reaching  the  land  is  returned  to  the  air  by  evaporation, 
either  directly  or  from  the  streams  and  lakes.  Many  of  the 
lakes  do  not  overflow  and  are  more  or  less  alkaline  and 
saline,  while  some  of  them,  as  Great  Salt  Lake,  Utah,  and 
Mono  and  Owens  Lakes,  California,  are  dense  with  mineral 
matter  in  solution. 

The  Great  Basin  is  not  a  single  level-floored  depression, 
as  one  might  infer  from  its  name,  but  is  traversed  by  rugged 
mountain  ranges,  which  divide  it  into  a  large  number  of 
minor  valleys.  Some  of  these  secondary  basins  have  lakes 
and  streams  which  escape  from  them  into  lower  depres- 
sions, but  in  many  instances  under  present  climatic  condi- 
tions they  have  no  surface  water,  all  the  moisture  that 
reaches  them  being  absorbed  by  the  thirsty  soil  or  evapo- 
rated without  forming  lakes.  The  Great  Basin  proper,  as  it 
may  be  termed,  embraces  nearly  the  whole  of  Utah  and 
Nevada,  together  with  small  portions  of  the  southern  parts 
of  Idaho  and  Oregon  and  a  large  area  in  southeastern  Cali- 
fornia. While  the  drainage  conditions  limit  the  application 
of  the  name  to  this  group  of  associated  basins  which  send 
no  tribute  to  the  sea,  the  climatic  and  to  a  less  extent  the 
topographic  and  geological  conditions  that  characterize  it 
have  much  wider,  although  indefinite  boundaries.  This 
wider  region  which  resembles  the  Great  Basin  proper,  ex- 
tends from  British  Columbia  southward  to  beyond  the  city 
of  Mexico,  and  includes  the  eastern  half  of  Washington 
and  Oregon,  a  large  part  of  Idaho,  and  much  of  Arizona, 
New  Mexico,  and  western  Texas.  In  this  outer  region 
both  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  Great  Basin  proper 
there  are  drainless  valleys,  as  those  of  central  Mexico,  in 
which  the  conditions  characteristic  of  the  desert  valleys  of 
Utah  and  Nevada  are  repeated. 

The  greater  region  of  arid  valleys  and  desolate  moun- 
tains surrounding  the  Great  Basin  proper  is  crossed  at  the 
north  by  the  Columbia  and  in  the  central  part  by  lie-  I  olo 

rado.    Each  of  these  large  rivers  has  its  source  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  flows  to  tin-  Pacific. 

The  most  obvious  features  of  the  <  rreal  Basin  and  ol  the 
northward  and  southward  extensions  of  the  bell  ol  country 


Fig.  20. — The  Great  Basin. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     139 

having  much  in  common  with  it,  depend  on  climatic  condi- 
tions. The  rainfall  is  small  throughout  the  entire  belt  from 
the  Canadian  boundary  to  south-central  Mexico.  The 
average  mean  annual  precipitation,  judging  from  such  ob- 
servations as  are  available,  is  probably  less  than  15  inches, 
but  this  broad  statement  does  not  truly  represent  the  diverse 
conditions.  The  rainfall  is  confined  almost  entirely  to  the 
winter  season,  and  frequently  comes  in  short  heavy  down- 
pours. During  the  summer  season,  the  valleys  especially, 
become  so  parched  that  only  such  plants  can  grow  as  are 
adapted  to  long-continued  droughts.  The  topography  is 
rough  and  diversified  by  many  mountain  ranges,  and  the 
precipitation  is  more  abundant  on  the  uplands  than  in  the 
valleys.  Over  large  areas  in  Nevada  and  southestern  Cali- 
fornia the  mean  annual  rainfall  is  less  than  5  inches.  The 
author,  while  carrying  on  geological  work  in  this  region, 
was  informed  by  some  of  the  older  settlers  that  at  times 
for  fully  eighteen  consecutive  months  no  rain  whatever  fell 
in  certain  of  the  valleys.  From  the  accounts  of  travellers 
in  central  Mexico,  it  seems  as  if  some  of  the  interior  basins 
in  that  region  must  be  fully  as  arid  as  those  just  referred  to. 

One  conspicuous  result  of  the  lack  of  moisture  is  the 
absence  of  forests.  Except  on  the  mountains  mainly  at  the 
north  the  Great  Basin  and  its  extensions,  as  defined  above, 
is  nearly  destitute  of  trees.  The  valleys  arc  in  many  in- 
stances thickly  covered  with  desert  shrubs,  notably  the 
sage-brush,  but  the  floors  of  the  driest  basins  arc  in  many 
instances  almost  absolutely  without  vegetation,  and  are  fre- 
quently white  with  saline  incrustations. 

Many  of  the  depressions  in  the  Great  Basin,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  outlying  valleys  referred  to,  have  rivers  and 
lakes  which  exhibit  certain  interesting  features  that  are 
unfamiliar  to  people  dwelling  in  humid  lands.  The  streams 
are  fed  in  part  by  the  small  precipitation  on  the  desert  val- 
leys, and  by  springs,  frequently  of  heated  water,  but  mainly 
by  the  rain  and  melting  snow  on  the  mountains.  Many 
rills  and  rivulets  arc  bom  on  the  valle)  sides  of  a  single 
storm,  bul  are  absorbed  by  the  thirsty  soil  or  evaporated 
during  the  succeeding  hours  of  sunshine.     Other  streams 


140  NORTH    AMERICA 

have  a  greater  lease  of  life  and  flow  down  to  valleys  and 
basins,  suffering  evaporation  and  absorption  as  they  pro- 
gress, which  cause  them  to  diminish  in  volume,  and  finally 
to  vanish.  The  stronger  streams,  such  as  Sevier  and  Bear 
Rivers  in  Utah,  the  Humboldt  River  in  Nevada,  and  the 
Truckee  River  in  California,  maintain  their  existence 
throughout  the  year,  and  expand  into  lakes  in  which  the 
inflow  is  balanced  by  evaporation. 

The  lakes  of  the  Great  Basin  present  even  greater  di- 
versity than  the  streams.  Some  of  those  situated  princi- 
pally in  the  mountains  are  of  pure,  limpid,  wholesome  water, 
supplied  by  cool,  sweet  brooks  and  rills  or  by  the  melting 
of  the  winter's  snows,  and  overflow  throughout  the  year. 
These  lakes,  usually  of  small  size,  are  similar  in  all  re- 
spects to  the  ordinary  lakes  of  humid  lands.  In  eastern 
Utah,  adjacent  to  the  west  base  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains/ 
the  Provo  River  and  other  streams  supply  Utah  Lake,  the 
outlet  of  which,  the  Jordan  River,  empties  into  Great  Salt 
Lake.  Utah  Lake  is  well  within  the  Great  Basin,  and  situ- 
ated at  a  low  elevation  for  the  region,  namely,  4,500  feet, 
or  about  280  feet  (in  1873)  above  the  level  of  lake  of  brine 
into  which  it  discharges.  This  is  the  largest  of  the  fresh 
lakes  in  the  valleys  of  the  Great  Basin,  and  owes  its  exist- 
ence to  the  fact  that  a  depression  there  occurs  which  is  filled 
to  overflowing  by  the  streams  from  the  mountains.  Bear 
Lake,  in  northeastern  Utah,  is  another  exceptional  exam- 
ple of  a  fresh  lake  of  considerable  size  at  a  comparatively 
low  altitude,  in  the  same  region.  On  the  western  rim  of  the 
Great  Basin,  at  an  elevation  of  6,247  ^ee^  and  surrounded 
by  the  forested  peaks  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  lies  Lake 
Tahoe,  "  the  gem  of  the  Sierra,"  a  water  body  of  remark- 
able purity,  which  discharges  through  Truckee  River  into 
Pyramid  and  Winnemucca  Lakes.  These  lower  lakes,  situ- 
ated in  desert  valleys  at  an  elevation  of  3,780  feet  above  the 
sea,  are  without  outlets  and  alkaline  and  bitter.  The  most 
characteristic  lakes  of  the  Great  Basin,  however,  are  those 
that  do  not  overflow,  and  on  account  of  concentration  by 
evaporation  are  more  or  less  highly  charged  with  mineral 
matter  in  solution.    These  saline  and  alkaline  lakes  may  be 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     141 

divided  into  two  classes,  in  reference  to  their  duration,  but 
the  line  of  separation  is  indefinite.  Certain  of  them  have 
maintained  their  existence  for  many  years,  and  probably 
have  not  been  evaporated  to  dryness  for  several  centuries, 
and  may  be  classed  as  perennial  lakes;  others  are  evaporated 
to  dryness  each  year,  or  during  certain  exceptionally  dry  and 
hot  seasons,  and  may  be  termed  ephemeral  lakes.  In  many 
instances  the  beds  of  the  ephemeral  lakes  are  normally  in  a 
•state  of  desiccation,  and  appear  as  broad,  level,  mud  plains, 
usually  with  a  white  fringe  of  saline  matter.  Frequently 
these  mud  plains,  or  playas,  as  they  are  termed,  are  trans- 
formed into  shallow  lakes  during  a  single  storm,  but  the 
waters  are  absorbed  by  the  clays  beneath  or  evaporated 
within  a  few  days  or  perhaps  a  few  hours  after  the  rain 
ceases.  The  largest  and  most  characteristic  of  the  perennial 
saline  water  bodies  is  Great  Salt  Lake,  the  counterpart  in 
many  ways  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  streams  discharging  into 
this  salt  sea  have  the  usual  purity  of  river-waters,  and  carry 
but  a  small  fraction  of  one  per  cent  of  saline  matter  in  solu- 
tion. The  lake  is  supplied  also  in  part,  but  to  an  unimpor- 
tant extent,  by  springs,  the  most  of  which  are  of  essentially 
fresh  water.  The  source  of  the  salts  which  make  the  waters 
of  the  lake  a  brine  is  evidently,  therefore,  the  small  per- 
centage of  mineral  material  brought  in  by  the  tributary 
streams.  After  reaching  the  lake  these  fresh  waters,  in  the 
ordinary  meaning  of  the  term,  are  concentrated  by  evapora- 
tion. This  is  the  explanation  of  the  leading  facts  in  the 
chemistry  of  all  of  the  saline  and  alkaline  lakes  of  the  Great 
Basin  region,  such  as  Pyramid.  Winnemucca,  and  Walker 
Lakes  in  Nevada,  Mono  and  Owens  Lakes  in  California, 
and  the  saline  lakes  of  Mexico. 

The  volume  of  a  lake  without  an  outlet,  or  an  "  inclosed 
lake,"  is  determined  mainly  by  the  ratio  of  the  inflow  (in- 
cluding the  rain  falling  directly  on  its  surface  and  the  trib- 
ute from  springs)  and  evaporation.  Its  volume,  and  conse- 
quently its  area,  fluctuates  from  season  to  season,  and  fre 
quently  varies  also  during  periods  embracing  several  years. 
With  variation^  in  volume  there  are  fluctuations  in  the  per- 
centage of  saline  matter  in  solution,  even  if  precipitati<  >n  1  »i 


142  NORTH    AMERICA 

one  or  more  of  the  contained  salts  does  not  take  place  dur- 
ing the  periods  of  more  than  usual  concentration.  In  most 
instances  inclosed  lakes  are  concentrated  by  evaporation  in 
summer  seasons,  and  perhaps  become  nearly  saturated  solu- 
tions, but  are  diluted  during  the  rainy  winter  seasons. 
Fluctuations  in  volume,  area,  depth,  salinity,  etc.,  are  thus 
characteristic  of  inclosed  water  bodies.  They  are  sensitive 
to  climatic  changes  which  ordinary  weather  records  fail  to 
detect,  and  are  modified  in  a  conspicuous  manner  when  the 
country  about  them  becomes  inhabited  and  irrigation  is 
practised. 

Some  of  the  lakes  of  the  Great  Basin  are  dense  brines 
from  which  various  substances  are  being  precipitated.  The 
economic  importance  of  these  natural  reservoirs  of  brine 
and  of  various  soda  salts  is  great,  and  will  become  more 
and  more  important  as  transportation  facilities  increase. 
Great  Salt  Lake,  it  has  been  estimated,  contains  400,000,- 
000  tons  of  common  salt  and  30,000,000  tons  of  sodium  sul- 
phate in  solution.  During  the  past  ten  years  about  40,000 
tons  of  common  salt  have  been  harvested  from  it  annually. 
Mono  Lake  contains  some  245,000,000  tons  of  saline  mat- 
ter in  solution,  of  which  about  92,000,000  tons  are  sodium 
carbonate  and  bicarbonate.  Owens  Lake  is  similar  to  Mono 
Lake  in  composition,  and  is  now  the  basis  of  a  large  soda 
industry. 

A  marked  difference  between  a  region  which  drains  to 
the  ocean  and  one  where  the  streams  enter  inclosed  basins 
where  their  waters  are  evaporated  is  that  in  the  former  the 
waste  from  the  land  carried  by  the  streams  as  an  invisible 
load  in  solution  or  as  a  visible  load  consisting  mainly  of  silt 
and  sand  in  suspension  is  contributed  to  the  ocean  and 
widely  distributed  before  being  deposited — much  of  the  ma- 
terial in  solution,  in  fact,  may  be  said  to  be  a  permanent  con- 
tribution to  the  salinity  of  sea-water;  but  in  most  instances 
where  streams  enter  inclosed  basins  all  of  the  material 
contributed  both  in  solution  and  suspension  is  sooner  or 
later  precipitated.  The  area  within  an  inclosed  basin,  on 
which  the  inflowing  streams  lay  down  their  loads,  is  as  a 
rule  less  extensive  than  the  area  that  is  being  denuded  to 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     H3 

supply  the  material.  The  receiving  basins  are  thus  filled  in 
or  aggraded,  and  there  is  a  concentration  both  of  the  me- 
chanical wash  from  the  land  and  of  the  substances  taken  in 
solution  by  the  waters  of  streams  and  springs.  A  marked 
result  of  this  process  of  concentration,  particularly  of  the 
line  waste  of  the  uplands  and  mountains,  is  seen  in  the 
approximately  level  floors  of  inclosed  valleys.  Through- 
out the  Great  Basin  the  valleys  have  been  filled  to  a  depth 
in  many  instances  of  hundreds  of  feet.  Some  of  the  lower 
mountain  ranges  in  Utah  have  been  so  nearly  buried  be- 
neath these  valley  deposits  that  only  their  summits,  termed 
lost  mountains,  appear  above  the  even  surface  of  the  desert 
plains.  This  debris,  deeply  filling  the  valleys  referred  to,  is 
usually  a  fine  yellowish  dust-like  material,  similar  in  many 
ways,  and  probably  in  mode  of  origin,  to  the  loess  of  China 
in  which  geologists  have  taken  much  interest.  With  the 
concentration  and  deposition  of  the  fine  mechanical  wash 
of  the  uplands  there  has  also  been  a  concentration  of  the 
more  soluble  saline  constituents  of  rocks,  which  causes  the 
soils  of  arid  regions  to  differ  in  an  important  way  from 
those  of  humid  lands.  The  leached  and  characteristically 
red-tinted  soils  of  warm  humid  countries,  consisting  of  the 
oxidized  residue  of  deeply  weathered  rocks,  are  absent 
from  arid  regions;  in  their  place  we  find  minutely  disinte- 
grated, usually  light-coloured,  and  not  chemically  impov- 
erished soils.  In  warm  humid  regions  chemical  decay  of 
the  rocks  is  the  conspicuous  feature;  in  equally  warm  arid 
lands  mechanical  disintegration  is  carried  to  an  extreme, 
without  the  removal  of  the  more  soluble  constituents.  In 
fact,  concentration  of  saline  matter,  notably  common  salt, 
sodium  sulphate,  gypsum,  etc.,  is  one  of  the  functions,  so 
to  speak,  of  arid  climates,  when  the  requisite  evaporation 
basins  are  present.  Among  the  important  industries  of  the 
Great  Basin  region  is  the  gathering  and  purifying  of  the 
various  -alts  contained  in  the  existing  water  bodies  and  in 
the  basins  of  desiccated  lakes. 

In  addition  to  the  characteristics  of  the  region  re- 
ferred to  above,  which  are  mainly  the  resull  of  climatic  con- 
ditions, the  Great  Basin  has  certain  geological  features,  in 


144  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  main,  so  far  as  North  America  is  concerned,  peculiar 
to  itself.     The  leading  structural  features  of  the  rocks,  so 
far  as  they  find  expression  in  the  surface  relief,  is  the  pres- 
ence  of  a   large   number  of  extensive   faults   trending   in 
general  about  northeast  and  southwest.     These  faults  are 
breaks  or  cracks  along  which  the  rocks  have  been  moved 
up  and  down.    One  side  of  a  fault  sometimes  stands  higher 
than  the  opposite  side,  and  forms  a  narrow  and  frequently 
high  and  rugged  mountain  range.     The  number  of  these 
faults  within  the  Great  Basin  is  as  yet  unknown,  but  they 
certainly  number  many  hundreds.     In  a  cross  profile  of  the_ 
region  between  the  Wasatch  Mountains  on  the  east  and 
the  Sierra  Nevada  on  the  west  the  number  of  mountain 
ridges  due  to  faulting  is  at  least  a  score.     The  precipitous 
western  border  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains  is  itself  a  great 
fault  scarp,  as  is  also  the  eastern  border  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada.   The  faults  that  determine  the  steeper  sides  of  these 
mountain  ranges  are  not  to  be  considered  as  single  clean- 
cut  gashes,  but  as  irregular  and  intersecting  fractures  trav- 
ersing a  narrow  belt  of  country.     The  faults  referred  to 
divide  rocks  of  all  ages,  and  are  evidently  due  to  the  most 
recent  disturbances  that  have  affected  the  region.      It  is 
not   probable   that   the   break    in    any   given    instance    was 
formed  all  at  once.    Such  vast  convulsions  would  be  out  of 
harmony  with  the  rules  of  nature.     But  rather  many  small 
movements  and   adjustments   of   pressure    have    occurred 
along  the  same  belt  of  fracture.     This  conclusion  is  sus- 
tained by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  faults  have  experienced 
movements  in  very  recent  times.     In  places  fault  scarps  a 
score  or  more  feet  in  height  cross  the  alluvial  cones  at  the 
mouths  of  the  small  high-grade  valleys  in  the  mountains. 
These  scarps  in  loose  unconsolidated  gravel  and  similar  ma- 
terial, even  under  an  arid  climate,  could  not  be  expected  to 
preserve  their  freshness  for  many  years.      At  times   the 
breaks  cross  the  courses  of  streams  and  cascades,  and  rapids 
are  formed  by  the  waters  flowing  down  escarpments  thus 
produced  in  loose  material.     One  characteristic  fault  scarp 
in  Inyo  Valley,  California,  is  known  to  have  been  formed 
during  an  earthquake  that  shook  that  portion  of  the  conn- 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     H5 

trv  in  1872.  The  many  small  earthquakes  that  have  been 
felt  in  the  Great  Basin  region  are  believed  to  have  been 
caused  by  slight  movements  along  the  breaks  that  traverse 
the  region.  This  and  other  evidence  indicates  that  the 
faults  to  which  so  much  of  the  characteristic  scenery  of  the 
Great  Basin  is  due  have  grown  by  repeated  minor  displace- 
ments, and  that  such  movements  are  a  common  cause  of 
earthquakes. 

The  most  conspicuous  topographic  features  of  the  bet- 
ter known  portion  of  the  Great  Basin  are  long,  narrow,  and 
frequently  sharp-crested  ridges,  with  a  gentle  slope  on 
one  side  and  a  steep  escarpment  on  the  other.  The  steeper 
side  in  a  large  number  of  instances  is  known  to  be  the 
upraised  side  of  a  fault.  Each  of  these  basin  ranges,  as  they 
are  termed,  may  be  considered  as  the  upturned  edge  of  a 
block  of  the  earth's  crust,  in  general  from  60  to  100  or 
more  miles  long,  and  10  to  perhaps  20  miles  wide.  The 
crest-lines  of  the  tilted  blocks  are  frequently  serrate,  on 
account  of  differences  in  the  hardness  and  texture  of  the 
rocks  and  the  effects  of  weathering.  There  is  frequently, 
however,  an  older  structure  revealed  in  them,  showing  that 
the  region  was  folded  and  otherwise  disturbed  previous  to 
the  later  movements  which  produced  the  leading  features 
in  the  present  topography.  It  is  probable  that  this  older 
structure  in  some  instances  has  had  an  important  bearing 
on  the  forms  of  some  of  the  ranges,  but  our  knowledge  in 
this  direction  is  too  limited  to  warrant  presentation  in  a 
popular  treatise. 

Many  of  the  basin  ranges  are  imposing  on  account  of 
their  height  and  ruggedness,  when  seen  from  the  adjacent, 
deeply  filled  valleys,  although  scarcely  more  than  half  of 
their  actual  elevation  above  the  sea  is  revealed  from  such 
points  of  view.  Exceptions  to  this  general  statemenl  occur, 
however,  in  southeastern  California,  where,  in  Death  Val- 
ley, the  land  is  480  feet  below  sea-level.  This  is  the  only 
region  in  North  America  which,  like  the  basin  of  the  Dead 

a,  is  below  the  level  of  the  ocean's  surface.     (  >n  the  bor- 
der of  Death  Valley  the  mountain  ranges  rise  from  6,< 

to  10,000  feet,  and  the  highest  summit,  known  as  Telescope 


146  NORTH    AMERICA 

Peak,  is  reported  to  have  an  elevation  of  nearly  11,000  feet 
above  the  sea.  In  the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the 
Great  Basin  the  valley  floors  have  a  general  elevation  of 
from  5,000  to  6,000  feet.  The  mountains  rise  from  these 
valleys  to  a  height  of  from  a  few  hundred  to  4,000  or 
5,000  feet.  Among  the  highest,  if  not  actually  the  culmi- 
nating peaks  well  within  the  Great  Basin  are  White  Moun- 
tain, on  the  California-Nevada  boundary,  about  30  miles 
southeast  of  Mono  Lake,  which  has  a  summit  elevation  of 
13,000  feet,  and  Jeff  Davis  Peak,  in  eastern  Nevada,  which 
rises  13,100  feet  above  the  sea  and  8,000  feet  above  the 
adjacent  valleys. 

The  numerous  sharp-crested  ranges  of  the  region  under 
review  are  frequently  remarkable  for  the  richness  of  the 
colours  of  the  naked  rocks.  The  mountain  slopes  and 
towering  angular  summits  when  outlined  against  the  morn- 
ing or  evening  sky  are  frequently  as  brilliantly  dyed  as  are 
the  New  England  hills  when  clothed  in  the  harlequin 
foliage  of  autumn.  Before  sunrise  and  after  sunset  each 
serrate  crest-line  is  the  sharply  cut  border  of  a  silhouette 
of  the  deepest  and  richest  purple.  The  diversity  of  scenery 
in  the  Great  Basin  is  increased  by  mountains  of  volcanic 
origin,  including  several  modern  craters,  some  of  which 
hold  lakes,  and  by  lava-flows  of  recent  date,  and  by 
great  alluvial  fans  or  detritus  cones  which  stream  out  into 
the  valleys  from  the  mouths  of  gorges  in  the  bordering 
mountains. 

The  Great  Basin  proper,  with  its  rugged  topography 
and  arid  climate,  is  not  an  agricultural  region.  Small  por- 
tions of  it,  however,  when  water  can  be  had  for  irrigation, 
have  been  transformed  into  fruitful  farms  and  gardens 
which  yield  bountiful  returns.  But  even  a  century  hence, 
when  all  has  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  reclaiming 
the  arid  valleys  that  can  be  done  by  utilizing  the  available 
water  for  irrigation,  only  a  small  per  cent  of  the  whole  will 
be  under  cultivation. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     147 


SIERRA    NEVADA    AND    CASCADE    MOUNTAINS 

To  the  west  of  the  Great  Basin,  and  extending  from 
southern  California  northward  to  beyond  the  United  States- 
Canadian  boundary,  there  is  a  lofty  and  extremely  rugged 
belt  of  mountains  consisting  of  two  ranges — the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada at  the  south  and  the  Cascade  Mountains  at  the  north. 
Topographically,  these  two  ranges  form  a  single  elevated 
belt  of  country,  but  custom,  and  as  is  now  generally  under- 
stood the  geological  structure  and  history,  draws  a  di- 
viding line  between  them  in  northern  California.  The 
Sierra  Xevada-Cascade  range  extends  far  into  Canada,  and 
is  there  known  as  the  Coast  Range.  No  adjustment  of  the 
nomenclature  in  use  on  the  two  sides  of  the  international 
boundary  has  been  made,  and  in  order  to  conform  with  cur- 
rent usage,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  separately  the  two 
portions  of  the  range  on  opposite  sides  of  the  forty-ninth 
parallel. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  has  its  southern  terminus  at  Tejon 
Pass,  in  southern  California,  and  extending  from  there 
northward  to  Lassen  Peak,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  same 
State.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  area  to  the  east  and 
north  of  Lake  Tahoe,  the  entire  range  is  included  within 
the  boundaries  of  California.  This  is  geographically  one 
of  the  best  denned  of  the  larger  mountain  ranges  in  the 
United  States.  Its  eastern  border  especially  is  easy  to 
trace,  as  for  the  most  part  it  is  determined  by  a  great  es- 
carpment, corresponding  to  the  fault  scarp  which  borders 
one  side  of  so  many  of  the  basin  ranges.  The  Sierra  Ne- 
vada, in  fact,  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  basin  ranges 
of  great  size  and  forming  the  western  wall  of  the  region  of 
interior  drainage  lying  to  the  eastward.  This  abrupt  cast- 
ward-facing  mountain  slope  is  in  reality  a  great  fault 
scarp,  formed  mainly  by  the  upheaval  of  the  west  side  ol 
an  intersecting  system  of  fractures.  It  is  nol  known,  how- 
ever, how  much  of  the  escarpment  is  due  to  the  upheaval 
of  the  west  side  of  the  belt  of  fracture,  or  how  much  to  the 
sinking  of  the  eastern  side.  There  have  no  doubl  been 
many  up  .and  down  movements  along  tins  belt,  ol  which 


148  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  present  mountain  wall  is  the  algebraic  sum.  The  es- 
carpment rises  in  general  from  5,000  to  6,000  feet  above  the 
desert  valleys  to  the  eastward,  and  reaches  a  maximum  of 
about  14,000  feet  in  the  vicinity  of  Death  Valley.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly precipitous  and  rises  to  an  irregular  serrate  crest- 
line,  from  which  the  general  slope  westward  to  the  Great 
Valley  of  California  is  gentle. 

The  best  idea  of  the  generalized  topographic  form  as 
well  as  of  the  origin  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which  the  reader 
may  be  asked  to  hold  in  mind,  is  that  the  range  consists  of 
a  block  of  the  earth's  crust  about  500  miles  long  and  from 
70  to  100  miles  broad,  which  has  been  upraised  along  its 
eastern  edge  so  as  to  give  its  surface  a  westward  inclina- 
tion. From  this  vast  monolith  the  profound  canons  and 
multitude  of  sharp  tapering  spires  which  give  to  the  range 
its  magnificent  scenery  have  been  sculptured.  Like  most 
generalized  pictures  of  great  geographical  features,  how- 
ever, this  outline  of  the  form  and  structure  of  the  great 
mountain  range  of  California  has  to  be  modified  when  stud- 
ied in  detail.  From  extensive  and  most  painstaking  studies 
by  H.  W.  Turner,  of  the  United  States  Geological  Sur- 
vey, the  conclusion  is  reached  that  "  the  Sierra  Nevada 
may  be  described  as  a  monogenetic  range,  composed  of 
highly  compressed  schists  and  slates  with  large  areas  of 
associated  igneous  rocks,  chiefly  granite  and  diabase,  upon 
which  lie  uncomfortably  a  series  of  later  Cretaceous  and 
Tertiary  sediments  and  volcanic  rocks." 

Could  the  profound  valleys  carved  in  the  long  western 
slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  be  filled  so  as  to  restore  the 
conditions  as  they  existed  when  the  mountain  block  was 
first  upraised  and  tilted,  we  would  have  an  inclined  plane 
in  which  the  edges  of  previously  folded  rocks  would  be 
exposed.  In  other  words,  the  western  slope  is  a  tilted 
peneplain,  bearing  on  its  surface  remnants  of  older  up- 
lands. High  up  on  the  range  there  are  detached  areas 
of  well-worn  gravel,  which  were  deposited  when  the  slopes 
were  less  inclined  than  at  present,  and  before  the  existing 
peaks  and  canons  came  into  existence.  Certain  of  the  valleys 
carved  during  a  portion  of  the  earlier  stage  of  erosion  were 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     149 

subsequently  filled  by  lava-floods,  which  buried  gold-bearing 
gravel  beneath  thick  layers  of  basaltic  rock.  Erosion  has 
since  cut  away  the  softer  beds  bordering  these  ancient  lava- 
sheets,  and  left  them  in  bold  relief  as  table  mountains, 
underneath  which  miners  have  excavated  tunnels  in  order 
to  reach  the  stream-deposited  gravels  of  the  ancient  canons. 
In  these  instances  valleys  have  been  changed  to  uplands, 
owing  to  the  resistance  to  erosion  afforded  by  the  volcanic 
rocks  discharged  into  them. 

The  long  gentle  slope  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  has  been  dissected  by  westward-flowing  rivers, 
which  have  sunk  their  channels  2,000  or  3,000  feet  or  more 
into  the  rocks.  Other  streams  having  much  shorter  courses 
flow  down  the  steep  eastern  slope  of  the  range  and  have 
also  excavated  canons.  These  two  systems  of  drainage, 
one  leading  westward  to  the  Great  Valley  of  California  and 
the  other  eastward  to  the  valleys  of  the  Great  Basin,  ex- 
tended their  head  branches  until  they  came  into  rivalry  with 
each  other,  and  cut  deep  notches  in  the  crest  of  the  range. 
During  a  late  stage  in  its  history  the  higher  portions  of 
the  mountains  were  covered  with  a  great  field  of  perennial 
snow,  from  which  glaciers  flowed  both  eastward  and  west- 
ward. These  ice-streams,  by  deepening  and  broadening 
the  previously  water-cut  channels,  still  further  increased  the 
diversity  of  the  topography  and  impressed  upon  it  charac- 
teristics such  as  only  glaciers  can  produce. 

The  highest  and  most  typical  part  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada is  in  its  south-central  portion,  and  is  known  as  the 
High  Sierra.  This  region,  although  at  present  not  accu- 
rately defined,  is  well  worthy  of  recognition.  Throughoul 
its  entire  extent,  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake  Tahoe 
on  the  north  to  Tehichipe  Pass  at  the  south,  a  distance  of 
about  240  miles,  it  is  diversified  by  rugged  serrate  peaks 
and  narrow  stream-cut  valleys  of  great  depth.  Many  o\ 
the  mountains  attain  elevations  of  from  [2,ooo  to  over 
13,500  feet.  The  highest  summit  is  Mount  Whitney,  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  range  and  near  its  eastern  bor 
<\cr,  which  rises  T4.522  feel  above  the  sea  and  has  the 
added  distinction  of  being  the  highest  mountain  in  the 
II 


150  NORTH    AMERICA 

United  States,  exclusive  of  Alaska.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that 
this  great  mountain-peak  should  be  situated  only  about  ioo 
miles  from  Death  Valley,  the  lowest  depression  on  the  con- 
tinent. 

Another  of  the  remarkable  features  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada is  the  great  depth  and  the  wonderfully  precipitous 
walls  of  some  of  the  valleys  carved  by  the  westward-flow- 
ing rivers.  The  most  famous  of  these  is  the  sublime  Yo- 
semite  Valley,  now  world  renowned.  This  cleft  as  it  ap- 
pears in  solid  light-coloured  granite,  over  a  mile  deep,  is 
believed  by  Turner,  the  last  of  several  geologists  to  discuss 
its  origin,  to  be  due  to  stream-erosion.  The  fact  seems 
well  established,  however,  that  glacial  ice  has  assisted  in 
the  great  task.  The  Yosemite  is  not  such  an  unique  fea- 
ture as  was  at  one  time  supposed,  but  is  approached  if  not 
equalled  in  depth  and  magnificence  by  Hetch  Hetchy  Val- 
ley, through  which  flows  the  Tuolumne  River,  and  is  dupli- 
cated, in  part  at  least,  by  other  similar  stream-cut  gulfs. 

Among  the  chief  elements  in  the  glorious  scenery  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  is  the  multitude  of  lakes  left  as  a  rich 
inheritance  by  the  departed  glaciers.  These  occur  not  only 
high  up  amid  the  bare  peaks  where  their  basins  were  exca- 
vated by  the  flowing  ice,  but  also  in  the  lower  valleys  where 
the  ancient  ice-streams  built  morainal  dams. 

The  High  Sierra  was  swept  nearly  clean  of  soil  and 
debris  by  the  ancient  glaciers,  and  the  hard  rocks  thus  ex- 
posed rounded  and  burnished  by  the  ice  that  flowed  over 
them.  But  little  disintegration  or  decay  of  the  rocks  has 
taken  place  since  an  amelioration  of  climate  changed  the 
drainage  from  a  solid  to  a  liquid  form.  On  account  mainly 
of  the  general  absence  of  soil  the  forests  are  less  dense  than 
might  be  expected  from  the  height  of  the  regions  where 
they  occur  and  its  general  climatic  conditions.  The  more 
lofty  peaks  reach  far  above  the  forests  and  are  riven  and 
shattered  by  frost.  The  crests  and  cliffs  at  somewhat  lower 
altitudes  are  also  bare,  but  in  the  canons  and  on  the 
meadow-like  valley  bottoms  smoothed  by  the  glaciers,  open 
park-like  groves  of  pine  and  spruce  grow  in  picturesque 
disorder.     On  the  ledges  of  the  great  precipices,  and  on 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     151 

many  of  the  secondary  summits,  gardens  of  alpine  flowers 
blossom  in  late  summer,  and  at  times  impart  a  rich  warm 
glow  to  the  heights  that  support  them.  The  views  of  na- 
ture, unmarred  by  the  hand  of  man,  which  reward  the 
persistent  mountaineer  in  this  silent  wonderland  of  the 
upper  world,  are  not  only  grand  beyond  all  description,  but 
beautified  by  a  delicacy  of  decoration  where  snow-fields 
and  alpine  gardens  meet,  that  is  undreamed  of  by  the 
dwellers  in  the  denser  air  of  the  plains  and  seaside.  Lovers 
of  nature  who  are  unable  to  climb  the  towering  summits  of 
the  High  Sierra  and  see  for  themselves  the  marvellous 
beauty  there  so  lavishly  displayed  can  at  least  find  a  glow- 
ing pen  picture  of  it  in  John  Muir's  fascinating  book  The 
Mountains  of  California.  On  the  lower  western  slope  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  the  forests  become  continuous  and  lux- 
uriant, the  trees  are  of  large  size,  and  the  lovely  flowers 
carpeting  the  valleys  and  hillsides  take  on  a  more  famil- 
iar appearance  than  the  gorgeous  blossoms  of  the  alpine 
meadows.  It  is  in  this  region  that  the  gigantic  Sequoia 
•still  lingers  as  a  remnant  of  a  nearly  extinct  flora. 

Statements  of  heights  and  depths,  of  geological  struc- 
tures, and  of  topographic  forms  are  perhaps  necessary  to 
enable  one  to  form  a  mental  picture  of  a  snow-crowned 
mountain  range  which  will  bear  some  faint  resemblance  to 
the  mighty  original;  but  when  one  threads  his  way 
through  the  resinous  forests  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  ascends  some  one  of  the  profound  water- 
cut  rifts  in  its  side,  scales  the  steep  cliffs,  traverses  the 
crystal  surfaces  of  the  small  glaciers,  and  finally  stands  on  a 
spire-like  summit  covered  only  by  the  dark  bine  of  the 
dome  above,  all  thoughts  of  the  arches  and  walls  that  sup- 
port the  mighty  cathedral  are  lost  in  wrapt  wonder  and 
admiration  of  the  magnificent  scene  about  him.  It  is  tins 
intense  feeling  for  the  sublime  and  beautiful  in  nature  thai 
the  student  of  geography  should  strive  to  cultivate,  as  well 
as  to  acquire  skill  in  reading  the  prosaic  history  written 
everywhere  on  the  mountains.  This  important  lesson  can 
seldom  be  studied  to  greater  advantage  than  amid  the  silent 
awe-inspiring  peaks  of  (  lalifornia. 


152  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  Cascade  Mountains,  as  previously  stated,  are  a 
direct  continuation,  so  far  as  the  relief  is  concerned,  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  The  geological  structure  of  the  region  in 
northern  California,  where  the  two  ranges  approach  each 
other,  has  been  studied  by  J.  S.  Diller,  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  who  concludes  that  they  present  char- 
acteristic differences.  In  the  Cascade  Mountains  in  north- 
ern California,  Oregon,  and  southern  Washington  the  rocks 
exposed  at  the  surface  are  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  of  volcanic 
origin,  and  were  poured  out  in  a  molten  condition  as  lava- 
flows,  or  as  fragmental  ejections  from  volcanoes,  and  in  part 
rose  through  fissures  and  formed  what  are  termed  fissure 
eruptions.  The  rocks  thus  extruded  are  mainly  composed 
of  dark,  heavy  basic  material,  such  as  basalt  and  andesite. 
These  outpourings  of  molten  rocks  were  on  a  grand  scale, 
and  a  large  number  of  volcanic  mountains  were  formed 
which  still  remain  as  the  dominant  peaks  of  the  rugged  and 
densely  forested  Cascade  Range.  Although  the  evidence 
now  available  seems  to  show  that  there  is  a  striking  difference 
between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the  Cascade  Mountains,- 
another  significant  change  occurs  when  one  follows  the 
Cascade  Mountains  into  northern  Washington.  Where 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  crosses  the  range  the  vol- 
canic rocks  are  succeeded  northward  by  granites,  schists, 
serpentine,  etc.,  and  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary  sedimentary 
beds  of  much  the  same  character  as  those  in  the  Sierra 
Nevada. 

The  study  of  the  Sierra  Nevada-Cascade  region  has  not 
progressed  far  enough  to  warrant  a  decision,  but  the  fact 
referred  to  above  strongly  suggests  that  the  two  ranges, 
as  we  now  term  them,  are  essentially  a  single  uplift,  a  large 
portion  of  which,  extending  from  Lassen  Peak,  in  Califor- 
nia, northward  across  Oregon  and  into  Washington  as  far 
as  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  is  buried  beneath  a 
great  blanket,  so  to  speak,  of  lava-flows.  The  tract  of  ele- 
vated and  rugged  country  in  northern  Washington  em- 
braced in  the  Cascade  Mountains,  as  has  been  observed 
by  the  writer,  passes  into  Canada  without  a  marked  change 
in  either  its  geology  or  geography,  and  there  is  no  occasion 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAXD     153 

for  a  change  of  name  when  the  international  boundary  is 
crossed. 

The  Cascade  Mountains  in  Oregon  and  southern  Wash- 
ington, where  the  surface  rocks  are  mainly  and  perhaps 
wholly  of  volcanic  origin,  are  rugged  for  two  principal  rea- 
sons: First,  volcanic  energy  has  built  up  great  individual 
peaks;  and  second,  erosion  has  carved  deep  valleys  and 
numerous  ravines  and  gorges.  The  volcanoes  are  now 
extinct,  or  have  long  been  dormant,  and  their  cold  summits 
are  in  several  instances  crowned  with  perennial  snow  and 
small  glaciers.  The  forms  given  to  the  more  prominent 
elevations  by  the  eruptions  which  built  them  have  to  a 
great  extent  been  defaced  by  erosion.  As  they  stand  to-day 
they  furnish  an  instructive  series  of  more  or  less  deeply 
dissected  volcanic  mountains. 

Xot  only  has  erosion  changed  the  characteristic  slopes 
of  the  peaks  built  of  lava-flows  and  ejected  fragments,  but 
in  at  least  one  remarkable  instance  the  volcanic  energy  itself 
greatly  altered  the  structure  it  had  previously  raised. 
Mount  Mazama,  situated  in  southern  Oregon  in  the  sum- 
mit region  of  the  Cascades,  is  a  truncated  volcanic  cone 
in  the  top  of  which  there  is  an  immense  depression  now 
partially  rilled  by  the  waters  of  Crater  Lake  (Fig.  21).  The 
main  features  in  the  history  of  this  unique  mountain  with 
a  lake  in  its  summit,  as  interpreted  by  Messrs.  Dutton  and 
Diller,  of  the  United  States  Geographical  Survey,  are  as 
follows:  It  once  stood  as  a  conical  peak,  similar  to  several 
other  mountains  of  volcanic  origin  in  the  same  region,  some 
15.000  feet  in  height;  it  was  then  an  active  volcano  with  a 
summit  crater  filled  with  lava,  but  subsequently,  for  a  time 
at  least,  became  dormant  and  was  occupied  by  glacial  ice. 
At  a  later  period  an  escape  for  the  lava  was  furnished  by 
a  fissure  or  other  opening  which  admitted  of  a  surface  dis- 
charge at  a  more  or  less  distant  locality,  in  a  manner  sim- 
ilar to  the  escape  of  the  molten  rocks  from  the  great  vol- 
canoes of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  within  historic  times.  This 
drawing  off  of  the  lava  from  tin-  crater  removed  the  sup- 
port afforded  its  walls  from  within,  and  the  summil  portion 
of  the   mountain,   embracing  about    three-fourths   ol    its 


154  NORTH    AMERICA 

height  above  the  adjacent  valleys,  fell  in  and  was  engulfed. 
The  mountain  was  thus  truncated,  and  presents  the  general 
appearance  of  similar  cones  the  upper  portions  of  which  are 
known  to  have  been  blown  away  by  explosions.  But  in 
the  case  of  Mount  Mazama,  the  hypothesis  of  truncation 
by  explosion  seems  to  be  disproved  by  the  absence  of  the 
fragments  of  the  portion  removed  on  the  slopes  remaining 
or  on  the  surrounding  region.  After  the  falling  in  of  the 
summit  of  the  mountain  comparatively  mild  volcanic  ex- 
plosions followed  which  built  a  cone  within  the  great  pit  or 
caldera  in  the  summit  of  the  truncated  mountain,  but  with- 
out filling  it.  The  space  left  vacant  is  now  occupied  by 
water,  and  thus  transformed  into  a  lake.  The  cone  built 
after  the  catastrophe  referred  to  now  forms  Wizard  Island, 
near  the  southwest  border  of  Crater  Lake. 

Some  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  changes  wrought  in 
Mount  Mazama  by  the  events  recorded  in  its  geology  and 
topography  may  be  obtained  from  the  following  facts: 
Crater  Lake  has  a  surface  elevation  of  6,239  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  is  nearly  2,000  feet  deep  in  its  deepest  part;  the 
precipices  surrounding  it  are  from  520  to  1,987  feet  high. 
The  whole  depth  of  the  depression  is  therefore  4,000  feet. 
This  caldera,  as  such  basins  of  volcanic  origin  are  termed, 
is  nearly  circular,  with  an  east  and  west  diameter  measuring 
6  miles,  and  a  north  and  south  diameter  of  5  miles.  The 
volume  of  the  pit  is  nearly  12  cubic  miles. 

Not  only  is  Mount  Mazama  with  its  wonderful  lake  one 
of  the  most  unique  natural  features  of  North  America,  but 
it  has  its  full  share  of  the  artistic  details  of  lake  and  moun- 
tain scenery  which  appeal  so  forcibly  to  the  finer  instincts 
within  us.  The  outer  slopes  of  the  mountain  are  clothed 
with  the  all-embracing  coniferous  forests  which  cover  the 
Cascades  as  with  a  mantle  throughout  their  entire  extent, 
while  the  precipitous  inner  slopes  are  for  the  most  part  bare 
precipices  of  angular  and  extremely  rugged  rock.  The  lake 
itself  is  of  the  most  marvellous  blue,  in  which  the  encircling 
cliffs,  the  crater-island,  and  the  sky  above  are  reflected. 

Other  peaks  along  the  crest-line  of  the  Cascades  to  be 
numbered  by  the  score,  although  with  less  romantic  his- 


ScALrvct 

Cross  Sect/on  of  Crater  Lake. 


21. — Crater  Lake  in  the  summit  of  Mount  Ma/. una,  Oregon. 


155 


156  NORTH    AMERICA 

tories  than  Mount  Mazama,  have  instructive  answers  to 
give  when  properly  questioned.  Among  the  remarkably 
picturesque  summits  rising  above  the  dark  coniferous  for- 
ests of  western  Oregon  are  the  following,  with  their  re- 
spective heights  above  the  sea  expressed  in  feet:  Mount 
Pitt,  9,760;  Mount  Mazama,  8,228;  Mount  Union,  7,881; 
Mount  Scott, 7,123;  Three  Sisters, Mount  Jefferson,  10,200; 
and  Mount  Hood,  1 1,225.  Of  these  peaks,  the  best  known, 
on  account  of  its  proximity  to  the  city  of  Portland,  and  at 
the  same  time  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful, 
is  Mount  Hood,  situated  about  25  miles  south  of  the  Co- 
lumbia River.  The  concave  slopes  so  characteristic  of  vol- 
canic cones  are  no  longer  conspicuous  on  the  sides  of  this 
once  symmetrical  mountain,  and  only  remnants  of  its  crater 
remain.  The  part  it  played  as  a  safety-valve  for  the  pent-up 
energy  beneath  was  long  since  finished,  although  heated 
vapours  still  escape  from  an  opening  near  the  summit. 
Similar  manifestations  of  heat  have  also  been  observed  about 
several  other  ancient  craters  in  the  Cascades,  but  these  oc- 
currences are  not  considered  as  indicating  that  actual  con- 
nections still  exist  with  reservoirs  or  bodies  of  molten  rocks 
below  the  surface  :  they  are  evidently  due  to  the  residual  heat 
of  the  once  molten  rock  in  the  conduits  of  the  now  extinct 
or  dormant  volcanoes. 

The  lava-flows  and  volcanic  mountains  typically  dis- 
played in  the  Cascades  throughout  the  breadth  of  Oregon 
continue  northward  and  form  at  least  the  surface  portion 
of  the  same  range  in  Washington  as  far  as  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad,  or  about  100  miles  north  of  the  Colum- 
bia. The  more  important  volcanic  mountains  in  western 
Washington  are,  in  their  order  from  south  to  north,  as 
follows,  the  height  of  each  being  given  in  feet:  Mount 
Adams,  9,570;  Mount  St.  Helens,  9.750;  Mount  Rainier, 
14,525;  Glacier  Peak,  10,436;  and  Mount  Baker,  10,877. 
Only  two  of  these  ancient  volcanoes,  namely.  Mount 
Adams  and  Glacier  Peak,  are  situated  on  the  crest-line  of 
the  Cascade  Mountains;  the  others  are  to  the  westward 
and  more  or  less  completely  detached  from  the  main 
ranere. 


Fig.  --'.  —  Mount  Rainier,  Washington. 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     157 

The  Cascade  Mountains  are  in  general  parallel  with  the 
shore  of  the  Pacific,  and  rise  as  a  prominent  barrier  athwart 
the  path  of  the  prevailing  westerly  winds.  Precipitation  on 
their  seaward  slopes  is  copious,  but  their  landward  sides 
overlooking  the  arid  plains  of  central  Washington  are  far 
less  humid.  The  westward,  or  rainy  slope,  is  clothed  with 
a  magnificent  forest  of  giant  trees,  while  the  eastward,  or 
sunny  side,  is  largely  without  forests,  but  abounds  in  natu- 
ral meadows  and  pastures.  Large  portions  of  the  moun- 
tains are  still  almost  entirely  unknown,  and  retain  their 
primitive  wildness,  except  that  forest  fires,  particularly  near 
the  international  boundary,  have  in  places  made  desolate 
the  once  beautiful  valleys  and  precipitous  slopes.  Elk,  deer, 
bear,  the  mountain-goat,  and  mountain-sheep  still  roam  the 
forests.  The  large  streams  abound  in  salmon,  and  each 
cool,  clear  brook  and  rushing  creek  is  a  favourite  haunt  of 
the  trout.  No  more  delightful  camping-ground  for  lovers 
of  nature  and  searchers  for  recreation  can  be  found  than  the 
grassy,  park-like  valleys  on  the  sunny  side  of  these  magnifi- 
cent mountains. 

Many  of  the  details  in  the  scenery  of  the  Cascades  are 
due  to  the  work  of  ancient  glaciers.  Numerous  lakes,  held 
in  rock-basins  in  the  higher  portions  of  the  mountains,  and 
many  still  larger  sheets  of  water  retained  by  morainal  dams 
in  the  lower  valleys,  give  a  superlative  charm  to  many  a 
wild  and  rugged  landscape.  The  largest  and  most  interest- 
ing lake  in  the  entire  Cascade  region  is  Lake  Chelan,  situ- 
ated in  a  deep  valley  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains 
in  north-central  Washington.  This  beautiful  sheet  of  water, 
a  mile  or  two  wide,  extending  like  a  placid  river  for  some 
70  miles  into  the  mountains,  resembles  in  many  of  its  fea- 
tures the  far-famed  lakes  of  northern  Italy.  The  moun- 
tains inclosing  this  hidden  gem  of  the  Cascades  rise  abruptly 
from  the  water's  edge  to  great  heights,  and  with  one  excep- 
tion are  unbroken  by  deep  side-valleys.  For  fully  50  miles 
the  blue  plain  of  water  is  overshadowed  on  each  side  by 
crags  and  precipices  from  5.000  to  6,000  or  more  feel  in 
height.  The  lower  slopes  are  dark  with  forests  of  pine  and 
fir,  and  the  bare  serrate  spires  above  are  while  with   snow 


158  NORTH    AMERICA 

long  after  the  spring  flowers  have  faded  in  the  lower  vales. 
The  water  of  the  lake  is  clear  and  sparkling,  and  has  the 
deep-bine  colour  of  the  open  ocean.  The  sounding-line  has 
shown  a  depth  of  1,400  feet,  and  the  bottom  is  about  300 
feet  below  sea-level.  This  wonderful  lake,  clasped  in  the 
embrace  of  the  eastward  extended  arms  of  the  Cascades,  is 
but  2  or  3  miles  from  the  Columbia  River,  into  which  it  dis- 
charges its  surplus  waters  through  Chelan  River,  and  may 
be  easily  reached  from  Wenachee,  on  the  Great  Northern 
Railroad,  by  steamers  on  the  Columbia.  Although  at 
present  scarcely  known  to  the  world  of  tourists,  Lake  Che- 
lan is  destined  to  take  as  an  important  place  in  the  lives  of 
those  who  seek  rest  and  recreation  as  does  Lake  George  in 
northern  New  York  at  the  present  day. 

Before  attempting  to  trace  the  Pacific  mountains  north- 
ward through  Canada  and  Alaska,  let  us  glance  at  the  lead- 
ing geographical  features  to  the  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevada- 
Cascade  uplift. 

THE    GREAT    VALLEY    OF    CALIFORNIA    AND    THE    PUGET 
SOUND    BASIN 

To  the  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevada-Cascade  Mountains, 
and  bordered  on  the  west  by  another  and  very  nearly  paral- 
lel series  of  elevations,  known  in  a  general  way  as  the  Coast 
Mountains,  there  is  a  succession  of  long,  relatively  narrow 
basins,  situated  end  to  end,  and  constituting  what  may  be 
termed  a  valley  chain.  This  series  of  basins  extends  from 
southern  California  northward  far  into  Canada,  and  includes, 
in  their  order  from  south  to  north,  the  great  Valley  of 
California,  the  Willamette  and  Cowlitz  Valleys  in  Oregon 
and  Washington,  and  the  Puget  Sound  basin,  together  with 
its  great  but  indefinitely  defined  northward  extension. 

The  Great  Valley  of  California  has  a  length  of  about  500 
miles  and  an  average  width  of  approximately  40  miles,  and 
is  greater  in  area  than  either  Belgium,  Denmark,  or  Swit- 
zerland. It  is  divided  in  reference  to  drainage  into  two  por- 
tions, the  San  Joaquin  Valley  at  the  south  and  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley  at  the  north,  named  respectively  after  the 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     159 

rivers  that  drain  them.  These  two  streams  unite  and  dis- 
charge into  San  Francisco  Bay,  the  outlet  of  which  is 
through  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  Pacific.  This  central 
basin  of  California  has  a  generally  flat  bottom  composed 
of  a  great  depth  of  unconsolidated  gravel,  sand,  and  clay, 
which  are  believed  to  owe  their  deposition  mainly  to  the 
streams  flowing  from  the  bordering  mountains,  although  in 
part  they  may  have  been  deposited  when  the  land  was  more 
depressed  than  now  and  the  basin  was  a  great  sound,  con- 
nected with  the  ocean  by  a  single  narrow  opening.  The 
rock  waste  swept  into  the  valley  served  not  only  to  add  to 
the  accumulations  forming  its  floor,  but  to  give  the  bottom 
some  irregularities.  A  portion  of  its  southern  end,  shut  off 
by  alluvial  deposits  brought  down  from  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
is  occupied  by  the  shallow  alkaline  waters  of  Tulare  Lake. 
When  the  great  valley  was  first  visited  by  white  men  it  was 
without  trees,  except  along  the  immediate  borders  of  some 
of  the  streams,  and  for  the  most  part  was  a  luxuriant 
meadow  of  wild  grasses  and  flowers.  On  the  uplands  oak- 
trees  grew  in  scattered  park-like  groves  with  gorgeously 
flower-decked  hills  and  vales  between.  .  This  favoured 
land,  clothed  in  its  natural  beauties,  came  as  near  being  an 
Eden  as  perhaps  any  portion  of  the  continent.  The 
changes  that  have  followed  the  settlement  and  cultivation 
of  this  great  mountain-inclosed  basin  are  simply  marvellous. 
Cities  and  villages  have  been  built,  orchards  and  vineyards 
planted  which  yield  most  bountiful  harvests,  and  the  once 
grass-covered  plains  are  now  seemingly  boundless  wheat- 
fields.  The  unkept  natural  garden  of  half  a  century  ago 
has  become  a  granary  not  only  for  the  people  ot  America, 
but  for  those  of  Asia  as  well. 

To  the  north  of  the  Klamath  Mountains,  which  shut 
in  the  central  Valley  of  California  at  the  north,  lies  the  beau- 
tiful Willamette  Valley,  aboul  150  miles  long,  drained  by 
the  northward-flowing  river  of  the  same  name,  which  joins 
the  Columbia  where  the  thriving  city  of  Portland  nou 
stands.  The  depression  between  tin-  mountains  <>i  which 
the  Valley  of  tin-  Willamette  forms  a  part,  extends  north 
of  tin-  Columbia,  and  is  there  drained  by  the  southward- 


160  NORTH    AMERICA 

flowing  Cowlitz  River.  The  relation  of  these  two  valleys  is 
much  the  same,  although  on  a  smaller  scale,  as  that  exist- 
ing between  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  Valleys,  ex- 
cept that  the  Columbia,  after  passing  through  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  receives  the  Willamette  and  Cowlitz  rivers  as 
tributaries,  one  from  each  side  of  its  course.  This  Wil- 
lamette-Cowlitz depression  is  surrounded  by  densely  for- 
ested hills  and  the  snow-capped  summits  of  ancient  vol- 
canoes. The  soil  was  originally  highly  fertile,  and  although 
now  somewhat  impoverished,  still  furnishes  a  substantial 
basis  for  agriculture,  and  renders  the  region  one  of  the 
most  productive  as  well  as  most  beautiful  in  the  United 
States. 

To  the  geographer  the  Willamette-Cowlitz  Valley  seems 
scarcely  distinct  from  the  great  depression  farther  north  in 
the  same  valley-chain,  which  now  holds  the  waters  of  Puget 
Sound,  except  that  there  is  a  low  water-parting  between. 
This  divide,  as  previously  suggested,  is  thought  to  be  due 
largely  to  stream  and  glacial  deposits,  which  have  been  laid 
down  in  the  previously  nearly  level-floored  intermontane 
trough. 

The  Puget  Sound  basin  has  a  length  from  south  to 
north  of  about  150  miles,  and  extends  from  the  Olympic 
Mountains  on  the  west  to  the  Cascade  Mountains  on  the 
east,  a  distance  of  some  60  miles.  The  sound  terminates  at 
the  north  at  the  Strait  of  Fuca  (at  Port  Townsend,  in  Fig. 
23),  but  the  depression  in  which  it  lies  continues  northward, 
with  similar  geographical  and  geological  characteristics. 
In  a  general  way  the  same  depression  may  be  said  to  extend 
northward  to  southeastern  Alaska,  but  is  there  deeply  water- 
filled,  and  its  western  border  is  discontinuous  and  broken 
into  many  islands. 

There  are  several  features  in  the  Puget  Sound  basin 
which  especially  impress  the  traveller:  Next  to  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  lofty  volcanic  cones  that  stand  like  Titan  watch- 
towers  along  the  western  slope  of  the  Cascades  and  the 
dense  forest  of  gigantic  firs  and  cedars,  the  most  conspicu- 
ous feature  of  the  region  is  the  extreme  irregularity  of  the 
sound  itself.     Even  such   general   maps   of   Puget   Sound 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     161 


as  are  usually  available  indicate  that  it  is  exceptional  and 
different  from  all  other  water  bodies  on  the  continent,  not 
including  the  extension  of  the  same  series  of  basins  north- 
ward. Not  only  is  Puget  Sound  extremely  irregular,  and 
inconsistent  with  any  theory 
that  would  ascribe  its  origin 
to  the  subsistence  and  drown- 
ing of  stream-eroded  valleys, 
but  its  waters  are  deep  and 
the  channels  narrow.  The 
uplands  between  the  water- 
ways are  low  plateaus  com- 
posed of  clay,  gravel,  and 
glacial  moraines.  The  ex- 
planation    of    these    unique 


conditions  is  that  glacial  ice 
formerly  occupied  the  basin 
and  deposited  moraines  and 
gravel-plains  and  clay-plains 
about  its  margins;  when 
the  branching  and  irregular 
sheet  of  stagnant  ice  melted 


SCALE  OF  MILES 


Fig.  23. — Puget  Sound. 


its  place  was  taken  by  the 
waters  of  the  sea.  This  simplified  outline  of  the  later  his- 
tory of  Puget  Sound  has  many  modifications,  the  most  im- 
portant being  that  there  were  at  least  two  periods  of  ice 
occupation,  with  an  intervening  stage  of  mild  climate  be- 
tween, during  which  the  previously  formed  glacial  deposits 
were  forest  covered  and  thick  beds  of  peat  formed. 

The  ice  which  occupied  Puget  Sound  was  the  extreme 
southern  portion  of  a  great  but  irregular  Piedmont  glacier 
which  fringed  the  rough  and  ragged  coast  of  the  continenl 
all  the  way  to  southern  Alaska.  A  remnanl  of  this  former 
ice  body  still  exists  near  Mount  St.  Elias,  and  constitutes 
the  very  instructive  Malaspina  glacier. 


1 62  NORTH    AMERICA 


THE    MOUNTAINS    BORDERING    THE    PACIFIC 

In  a  preceding  chapter  the  rugged  topography  of  the 
western  margin  of  the  continent  has  been  briefly  described, 
and  a  general  explanation  given  of  the  contrasts  which 
it  presents  to  the  coastal  plains  and  plateaus  on  the  Atlantic 
border. 

The  long,  narrow  peninsula  known  as  Lower  California, 
as  yet  unstudied  in  the  light  of  modern  geography,  is 
known  to  be  mountainous  throughout.  Although  nearly 
surrounded  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  the  climate  of 
the  peninsula  is  hot  and  arid  and  its  surface  desert-like. 
The  Gulf  of  California,  which  separates  such  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  Pacific  border  of  Mexico  from  the  main  body 
of  the  republic,  has  the  characteristics  of  a  drowned  inter- 
montane  or  orogenic  valley.  But  whether  the  great  de- 
pression was  ever  dry  land  or  not  is  unknown.  The  waters 
of  the  gulf  are  shallow,  however,  and  a  moderate  upward 
movement  of  the  earth's  crust  in  that  region  would  trans- 
form it  into  a  great  valley  similar  in  its  general  features  to 
the  central  basin  of  the  State  of  California. 

What  are  frequently  designated  collectively  as  the  Coast 
Mountains  begin  at  the  south  and  adjacent  to  the  shore  of 
the  Pacific,  in  the  vicinity  of  Santa  Barbara,  Cal.,  and 
extend  northward  along  the  immediate  seaboard  far  into 
British  Columbia.  A  continuation  or  branch  of  this  series 
of  elevations  follows  the  south  coast  of  Alaska,  and  is  pro- 
longed so  as  to  form  the  Aleutian  Islands.  The  length  of 
the  mountain  system  or  succession  of  ranges  referred  to  is 
between  3,500  and  4,000  miles.  The  detailed  study  of  this 
long,  narrow,  and  in  many  parts  excessively  rugged  region 
is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  only  a  brief  account  of  its  salient 
features  can  be  attempted  at  present. 

In  southern  California  the  structure  of  the  mountains 
and  the  deep  stream-deposited  gravel,  etc.,  in  the  interve- 
ning valleys,  as  well  as  the  aridity  of  the  climate  and  charac- 
ter of  the  vegetation,  correspond  closely  with  the  similar 
conditions  in  the  Great  Basin.  In  fact,  the  Great  Basin  re- 
gion, as  the  term  has  been  used  on  a  previous  page,  there 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     163 

meets  the  Pacific,  and  the  islands  rising  from  the  adjacent 
portion  of  the  ocean  seem  to  be  the  summits  of  mountains 
of  the  Basin  Range  type.  Owing  to  the  dryness  of  the  cli- 
mate in  southern  California  and  adjacent  portions  of  Mex- 
ico, the  deeply  alluvial-filled  valleys  are  treeless,  and  agri- 
culture is  only  possible  with  the  aid  of  irrigation.  Where 
water  can  be  had,  however,  there  are  wonderfully  produc- 
tive orchards,  vineyards,  and  gardens,  in  which  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  both  the  temperate  and  torrid  zones  flourish 
side  by  side  with  marvellous  luxuriance.  The  palm  there 
casts  its  shadow  on  fragrant  bowers  of  the  most  superb 
roses.  The  grass-clothed  mountain  slopes  are  either  bare 
of  trees  or  but  scantily  forested,  while  the  upland  valleys 
produce  a  dense  jungle  of  native  trees  and  shrubs. 

To  the  north  of  the  irregular  and  diversified  portion  of 
southern  California,  where  the  Great  Basin  region  extends 
southwestward  to  the  Pacific,  rises  the  southern  Coast 
Range  of  California.  The  indefinite  beginning  of  this 
range  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Point  Conception,  to  the 
north  of  Santa  Barbara,  and  its  northern  terminus  is  at  the 
Golden  Gate.  The  same  belt  of  mountains  extends  north- 
ward, however,  and  forms  the  northern  Coast  Range,  which 
extends  to  the  Klamath  Mountains  in  northern  California. 
The  coast  ranges  of  California  as  a  whole  are  about  500 
miles  long  and  from  30  to  40  miles  broad,  and  comprise 
several  seemingly  distinct  uplifts,  some  of  which  have  cul- 
minating peaks  from  4,000  to  about  7,000  feet  high.  In 
general  this  elevated  region  is  conspicuously  sculptured,  and 
in  part  at  least  has  the  characteristics  of  an  eroded  pla- 
teau. The  suggestion  has  been  offered  that  the  northern 
portion  of  the  Coast  Range  is  a  dissected  peneplain. 

The  Coast  Ranges,  although  generally  bare  of  trees  to 
the  south  of  the  Golden  Gate,  become  more  and  mure 
densely  forested  when  followed  northward.  It  is  in  this 
northern  division  that  the  great  forests  of  redwood  occur, 
now  so  largely  used  for  lumber.  Reference  is  here  made 
not  to  the  "big  trees,"  which  grow  in  certain  restricted 
areas  on  the  west  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  but  to  the  far 
more  extensive  forests  of  a  related  species 


1 64  NORTH    AMERICA 

Considering  mountain  forms  simply,  it  is  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  determine  where  the  Coast  Mountains  of  Cali- 
fornia terminate  at  the  north,  but,  as  has  been  shown  espe- 
cially by  J.  S.  Diller,  there  are  reasons  based  on  geological 
structure  for  separating  them  from  the  irregular  group  of 
ranges  and  peaks  in  northern  California  and  southern  Ore- 
gon recently  named  the  Klamath  Mountains.  The  coast 
system  is  continued  north  of  the  Klamath  Mountains  by 
the  Coast  Mountains  of  Oregon,  which  extend  to  the  Co- 
lumbia River,  and  consist  of  irregular  ridges  or  series  of 
ridges,  with  bold  lateral  spurs,  especially  on  the  ocean  side. 
It  varies  conspicuously  in  height  from  place  to  place,  yet 
nowhere  attains  a  great  altitude.  The  elevations  of  the 
bolder  summits,  although  not  accurately  measured,  seldom 
exceed  3,000  feet. 

The  Coast  Mountains  of  Oregon  are  considered  as  ter- 
minating at  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State,  there  de- 
fined by  the  Columbia  River,  but  no  reason  is  apparent, 
however,  for  not  including  in  the  same  group  the  elevated 
land  lying  in  southwestern  Washington  and  adjacent  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  Between  the  Columbia  and  Chehalis  River 
in  Washington  there  is  a  rugged  region  which  attains  an 
elevation  of  over  4,000  feet,  and  is  separated  from  the 
Olympic  Mountains  to  the  northward  by  Chehalis  Valley. 
Although  the  geology  of  this  group  of  ridges  and  peaks  is 
entirely  unknown,  its  position  and  general  appearance, 
when  seen  from  a  distance,  suggest  that  it  might  properly 
be  considered  as  a  direct  extension  of  the  Coast  Moun- 
tains of  Oregon. 

Following  the  general  belt  of  the  Coast  Ranges  still  far- 
ther northward,  we  come  to  the  splendid  group  of  forest- 
clothed  mountains,  with  usually  snow-covered  summits, 
situated  to  the  west  of  Puget  Sound,  and  known  as  the 
Olympic  Mountains.  This  magnificent  range  is  in  full  view 
from  Victoria,  Seattle,  and  Tacoma,  and  would  be  far  famed 
for  its  grandeur  were  it  not  for  its  near  rival,  the  still  more 
lofty  Cascade  Range. 

There  are  several  fine,  sharp  peaks  in  the  Olympics 
that  have  never  been  scaled,  the  highest  of  which,  Mount 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     165 

Olympus,  rises  8,150  feet  above  the  sea.  Owing  to  the  ex- 
cessive humidity  and  other  favourable  climatic  conditions, 
these  mountains  are  clothed  with  magnificent  forests  up 
to  an  elevation  of  about  7,000  feet.  On  account  of  the 
rueeedness  of  the  countrv,  the  extreme  density  of  the 
tangled  undergrowth,  and  the  obstructions  formed  by 
the  fallen  moss-  and  lichen-covered  trees,  this  region  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  traverse,  and  to-day  is  the  least  known 
of  the  continental  portion  of  the  United  States.  On  the 
north  the  excessively  rugged  Olympic  peninsula  is  bor- 
dered by  a  deep,  broad  fiord  known  as  the  Strait  of  Fuca. 
To  the  north  of  this  formerly  ice-filled  channel  lies  Van- 
couver Island,  the  central  and  northern  portion  of  which  is 
mountainous.  The  highest  summit  on  the  island  rises  about 
7.500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  a  considerable  area  in  its 
central  part  has  an  elevation  of  over  2,000  feet. 

The  Olvmpics,  together  with  the  mountains  of  Van- 
couver and  Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  and  the  northern  ex- 
tension of  the  same  belt,  embraced  in  part  within  the  main- 
land of  British  Columbia  and  southeastern  Alaska,  have 
been  termed  the  "  Vancouver  Mountains  "  by  Canadian 
geographers.  The  northern  boundary  of  this  mountain  sys- 
tem, justly  named  in  honour  of  the  celebrated  English  ex- 
plorer who  mapped  large  portions  of  the  northwest  coast 
about  a  century  since,  remains  indefinite,  and  cannot  be 
determined  until  geologists  have  made  more  thorough  ex- 
plorations of  the  land  it  occupies.  The  leading  geograph- 
ical features  of  this  region,  as  remarked  in  a  preceding  chap- 
ter, are  due  to  the  deep  dissection,  by  streams  and  glaciers, 
of  an  elevated  table-land.  When  the  ice-streams  melted,  the 
sea  was  permitted  to  enter  the  valleys,  so  as  to  form  nu- 
merous deep,  narrow,  steep-walled  fiords  (Fig.  11).  The 
coast  is,  in  fact,  the  most  ragged  <  if  any  portion  of  the  1"  trder 
of  the  continent.  All  but  the  higher  summits  arc  clothed 
with  a  dense  mantle  of  vegetation,  the  upper  limit  of  which 
decreases  in  elevation  when  followed  northward,  from 
about  7.000  feet  in  the  Olympics  to  approximately  2,500 

•  in  southern  Alaska.  Perennial  snow  exists  in  the 
higher  valleys  and  amphitheatres  of  the  (  Hympics,  but  the 
12 


1 66  NORTH    AMERICA 

presence  of  true  glaciers  in  that  group  of  peaks  has  not 
been  demonstrated.  When  followed  northward  the  snow- 
line becomes  lower  and  lower,  and  well-defined  alpine  gla- 
ciers are  known  to  exist  in  many  of  the  valleys,  more  espe- 
cially on  the  mainland  of  British  Columbia  and  southeastern 
Alaska.  There  streams  of  ice  descend  lower  and  lower 
with  increase  in  latitude,  and  to  the  north  of  Stickeen 
River,  in  a  number  of  instances,  enter  the  fiords  which  con- 
nect with  the  ocean  and  become  tide-water  glaciers. 

To  the  west  of  Lynn  Canal,  and  extending  to  beyond 
Copper  River,  is  the  most  rugged  portion  of  North  Amer- 
ica, and  contains  also  some  of  the  highest  mountain-peaks  on 
the  continent  thus  far  measured. 

The  region  of  high  mountains  in  Alaska  and  the  adja- 
cent portion  of  Canada  begins  on  the  east  in  the  group  of 
magnificent  peaks  which  cluster  about  Mount  Fairweather 
as  a  centre  and  extend  westward,  with  a  breadth  of  some 
80  miles,  to  beyond  Mount  St.  Elias.  Farther  westward,. 
beyond  Copper  River,  other  great  mountains  are  known 
to  exist.  One  of  these,  Mount  McKinley,  has  an  elevation 
of  20,400  feet,  and  so  far  as  now  known  is  the  highest  peak 
in  North  America. 

The  highest  summit  to  the  east  of  Copper  River  is 
Mount  Logan,  19,500  feet.  This  superb  ice-sheathed  peak 
is  situated  in  Canada  about  40  miles  from  the  coast  and  12 
miles  east  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  meridian. 
Second  in  rank  is  Mount  St.  Elias,  18,070  feet,  situated 
close  to  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  meridian,  and 
within  the  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States.  These 
two  summits  are  the  highest  in  a  land  of  lofty  snow-covered 
mountains,  and  for  this  reason  have  claimed  a  large  share  of 
attention.  There  are  many  neighbouring  peaks,  however,, 
that  are  wonderfully  magnificent,  but  only  a  few  of  them 
have  been  measured  and  many  of  them  are  still  unnamed. 
Only  one  of  the  high  mountains  of  Alaska,  namely.  Mount 
St.  Elias,  has  been  climbed.  This  splendid  feat  of  moun- 
taineering was  accomplished  by  Prince  Luigi,  of  Savoy, 
in  1899. 

In  southern  Alaska  the  snow-line  is  only  about  2,500 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     167 

feet  above  tide,  and  a  large  number  of  magnificent  glaciers 
descend  to  sea-level,  and  many  of  them  actually  enter  the 
ocean.  All  of  the  valleys  and  basins  among  the  higher  sum- 
mits are  occupied  by  snow-fields  and  glaciers.  The  general 
covering  of  ice  and  snow  as  well  as  the  ruggedness  of  the 
land  makes  this  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  mountainous 
portions  of  North  America  to  traverse. 

In  the  St.  Elias  region  the  mountains  have  been  pro- 
duced by  upheaval,  and  are  not  volcanic  in  their  origin. 
The  frequently  repeated  statement  that  Mount  St.  Elias 
is  a  volcano  is  incorrect.  Although  igneous  rocks  occur 
near  its  summit,  they  are  of  the  nature  of  dikes  or  intru- 
sions, probably  of  ancient  date,  and  not  lava-flows.  The 
principal  volcanic  mountains  of  Alaska  are  farther  west  in 
the  region  of  the  Alaskan  peninsula  and  the  Aleutian 
Islands.  This  western  extension  of  the  continent  is  exces- 
sively nigged,  but  the  mountains  rise  directly  from  the 
ocean  and  in  part  form  a  chain  of  precipitous  islands  with 
irregular  topographic  forms. 

There  are  mountain  ranges  also  in  the  central  and  north- 
ern portions  of  Alaska  and  the  adjacent  part  of  Canada,  but 
this  region  awaits  exploration,  and  but  little  accurate  in- 
formation concerning  its  topography  is  on  record. 

The  Mountains  of  Western  Canada. — Reference  has  al- 
ready been  made  to  the  differences  in  the  nomenclature 
applied  to  the  portions  of  the  Pacific  mountains  on  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  United  States-Canadian  boundary,  and  at 
present  this  lack  of  harmony  cannot  be  adjusted.  As  is 
well  known, the  great  Pacific  cordillera  crosses  the  boundary 
nearly  at  right  angles,  and  there  is  no  abrupt  change  in  the 
topography  of  the  land.  From  the  western  border  of  the 
Great  plateaus  to  the  Pacific,  between  the  forty-fifth  and 
fifty-sixth  parallels,  as  stated  by  the  Geological  Survey  of 
Canada,  the  cordillera  has  an  average  breadth  of  about 
400  miles,  and  is  composed  of  four  great  mountain  chains, 
named  in  their  order  from  cast  to  west,  the  Rocky,  Gold, 
Coast,  and  Vancouver  Mountains.  These  four  greal  chains 
are  nearly  parallel  and  have  irregular  northwest  and  south- 
east trends. 


1 68  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  Canadian  Rockies  rise  abruptly  from  Great  pla- 
teaus in  which  the  rocks  are  nearly  horizontal,  and  have  a 
complex  structure,  due  to  the  folding  and  other  disturb- 
ances that  have  affected  the  strata.  Deep  dissection  by 
stream  erosion  has  occurred,  as  is  the  case  generally 
throughout  the  Pacific  cordillera,  and  the  peaks  and  ridges 
remaining  are  remarkable  for  their  grandeur.  Although  less 
elevated  than  the  higher  portions  of  the  same  great  belt 
in  the  United  States,  many  of  the  summits  are  from  8,000 
to  10,000,  and,  as  reported,  in  a  few  instances  reach  13,000 
feet  in  height,  while  the  passes  range  is  elevated  from  about 
4,000  to  7,000  feet.  The  western  border  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  range  is  well  defined  for  a  distance  of  some  700 
miles  to  the  northward  of  the  international  boundary  by  a 
remarkably  straight,  wide  valley,  which  is  occupied  by  the 
head  waters  of  several  large  rivers,  namely,  the  Kootenay, 
Columbia,  Fraser,  Parsnip,  and  Findley.  To  the  west  of  the 
great  valley  just  referred  to  rises  the  Gold  system,  composed 
principally  of  the  Selkirk,  Purcell,  Columbia,  and  Caribou 
Ranges.  It  is  in  this  rugged  region  that  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  splendid  scenery  of  western  Canada 
occurs. 

To  the  west  of  the  Gold  system  is  a  broad  region  of  val- 
leys and  lesser  mountains,  known  as  the  interior  plateau 
of  British  Columbia,  which  is  a  northward  extension  of  the 
Great  Basin  region  of  the  United  States.  The  breadth  of 
this  belt  of  comparatively  low  country  is  about  100  miles. 
Like  the  similar  region  in  Washington  and  Oregon,  it  is 
without  forests,  but  favourable  as  a  grazing  country.  In 
part  it  is  occupied  by  extensive  lava-flows,  similar  to  the 
Columbia  River  lava  of  the  northwestern  part  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Coast  Mountains  of  Canada,  although  stated  by 
geologists  to  be  distinct  from  the  Cascade  Mountains,  are 
in  part  at  least,  as  determined  by  the  present  writer,  a  direct 
northward  extension  of  that  range.  The  average  elevation 
of  the  higher  peaks  in  the  Canadian  Coast  Range,  as  it  is 
termed,  is  between  6,000  and  7,000  feet,  while  the  culmina- 
ting points  reach  an  elevation  of  about  9,000  feet.     How 


THE    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    THE    LAND     169 

far  northward  the  nomenclature  applied  to  the  Pacific 
mountains  in  southwestern  Canada  will  be  found  applicable 
can  not  be  stated,  as  the  region  to  the  north  of  the  fifty- 
sixth  parallel  is  almost  wholly  unknown. 


THE    ANTILLEAN    MOUNTAINS 

As  has  been  clearly  pointed  out  by  R.  T.  Hill,  the  Pa- 
cific cordillera  ends  at  the  south  in  south-central  Mexico, 
while  the  Andean  cordillera  at  its  northern  end  terminates 
in  the  rugged  mountains  of  Venezuela  to  the  south  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea.  These  two  great  cordilleras  do  not  over- 
lap, but  there  is  a  difference  of  about  10  degrees  of  latitude 
between  them,  and  if  extended  they  would  pass  each  other 
at  a  distance  of  nearly  1,000  miles.  In  the  space  thus  indi- 
cated, measuring  some  600,000  square  miles,  is  included  the 
southern  portion  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West 
Indies.  The  rocks  in  these  countries  present  a  great  series 
of  folds  which  trend  in  an  easterly  and  westerly  direction, 
and  thus  present  a  conspicuous  exception  to  the  major 
structural  features  of  both  North  and  South  America.  To 
this  newly  recognised  division  of  the  larger  geological  and 
geographical  characteristics  of  the  New  World  the  name 
Antillean  mountains  has  been  given. 

The  folds  or  corrugations  in  the  rocks  of  the  Central 
American  and  Caribbean  region  extend  in  an  east  and  west 
direction  along  the  seaward  margin  of  Venezuela  and  Co- 
lombia from  the  Orinoco  westward  to  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama, and  thence  continue  westward  through  Costa  Rica, 
the  eastern  portions  of  Nicaragua,  Guatemala,  and  Hon- 
duras, and  reach  southern  Oaxaca  in  Mexico.  The  same 
system  of  plications  is  revealed  also  on  the  larger  West 
India  islands.  The  rocks  of  this  great  region  include-  gran- 
ite and  allied  metamorphosed  terranes,  <>ld  lavas,  and  sedi- 
mentary beds. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  features  of  this  region 
with  a  structure  and  relief  commonly  found  in  mountains 
is  that  to  a  great  extent  it  is  depressed  beneath  the  sea,  and 
only  the  higher  summits  are  in  view.    Some  of  tin-  larj 


i/O  NORTH    AMERICA 

inequalities  of  the  rock  surface  have  been  discovered  by 
means  of  the  sounding-line.  By  referring  to  Fig.  3,  it 
will  be  seen  that  two  submarine  ridges  extend  in  an  east 
and  west  direction  beneath  the  Caribbean  Sea,  from  the 
West  Indies  to  the  Central  American  coast,  and  are  sepa- 
rated by  Bartlett  Deep.  These  ridges  correspond  in  trend 
with  the  longer  axes  of  the  folds  in  the  Antillean  moun- 
tains, and  suggest  a  common  origin  for  the  leading  geo- 
graphical features  of  the  land  and  of  the  still  more  remark- 
able topography  of  the  sea-floor. 

In  addition  to  mountains  produced  by  corrugation  and 
upheaval,  there  are  also  in  the  middle  American  region 
numerous  volcanic  mountains.  Of  these  there  are  two 
well-defined  belts,  each  trending  in  general  north  and 
south,  or  directly  across  the  longer  axes  of  the  folds  of  the 
Antillean  mountains.  One  of  these  belts  of  volcanic  cones 
and  craters  is  situated  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  Central  Amer- 
ica and  Mexico,  and  includes  some  25  active  volcanoes, 
and  the  other  is  defined  by  the  numerous  volcanic  islands 
of  the  Lesser  Antilles.  The  association  of  these  belts  of 
fracture  through  which  molten  rock  has  been  extruded  and 
where  earthquakes  are  of  common  occurrence,  with  the 
junction  of  the  east  and  west  belt  of  plication  to  which  the 
Antillean  mountains  are  due,  with  the  north  and  south 
belts  of  mountains  forming  the  Pacific  and  Andean  Cordil- 
leras, is  significant  in  connection  with  the  study  of  the 
origin  of  the  larger  features  of  the  relief  of  the  solid  earth. 

Varied  as  is  the  relief  of  North  America  when  studied 
in  detail,  an  outline  sketch  of  its  major  features  may  be 
readily  retained  in  mind.  On  the  east  side  of  the  main  con- 
tinental area  are  the  Atlantic  mountains,  extending  from 
near  the  Gulf  coast  northward  to  beyond  Hudson  Strait; 
in  the  central  part  is  the  broad  continental  basin,  a  vast 
region  of  low  relief  reaching  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean;  west  of  the  continental  basin  are  the  Pacific 
mountains,  the  greatest  of  all  the  elevations  on  the  conti- 
nent, which  begin  abruptly  in  south-central  Mexico  and 
extend  northward,  expanding  to  a  width  of  about   1,000 


THE  TOPOGRAPHY  OF  THE  LAND  171 

miles  in  the  United  States  and  reach  the  Arctic  Ocean  and 
Bering  Sea.  The  movements  in  the  earth's  crust,  which 
blocked  out  these  major  physiographic  features,  were  pro- 
duced by  forces  acting  in  east  and  west  directions,  and  gave 
origin  to  folds  and  faults  with  their  longer  axes  trending 
north  and  south.  To  the  south  of  the  main  body  of  the 
continent,  in  middle  America,  are  situated  the  Antillean 
mountains,  also  a  cordillera  comparable  with  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Cordilleras,  in  which  the  longer  axes  of  the  folds 
and  faults  trend  east  and  west,  and  are  due  to  forces  acting 
in  north  and  south  directions.  The  Antillean  mountains  in 
a  general  way  connect  or  intervene  between  the  Pacific  and 
the  Andean  Cordilleras.  Where  the  Antillean  mountains 
cross  the  axes  of  the  Pacific  and  Andean  cordilleras  are 
situated  the  volcanoes  of  southern  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  and  those  of  the  Lesser  Antilles. 

Geographers  will  recognise  that  this  outline  is  drawn 
boldly,  but  although  it  will  no  doubt  have  to  be  modified  as 
detailed  studies  progress,  it  should  serve  to  emphasize  the 
leading  geographic  divisions  of  the  North  American  con- 
tinent when  viewed  as  a  whole. 

LITERATURE 

The  following  list  of  publications  relating  to  the  physi- 
ography of  North  America  is  here  presented  largely  be- 
cause the  books  mentioned  contain  bibliographies  or  ref- 
erences which  indicate  sources  of  more  special  information: 

American  Geographical  Society,  Bulletin.     Published  annually. 

Canadian  Geological  Survey,  Ottawa,  Canada.  Index  to  reports  from 
1863  to  1884,  published  in  1900. 

DARTON,  N.  H.  Catalogue  and  Index  of  Contributions  to  North 
American  Geology,  1732  to  iSqi.  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
Bulletin  No.  127,  Washington,  1896. 

DAVIS,  W.  M.  Physical  Geography.  ('.inn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1898.  Con- 
tains a  valuable  bibliography. 

Dryer,  C.  R.  Lessons  in  Physical  Geography,  American  Book  Com- 
pany, New  York,  1901.     Contains  a  valuable  bibliography, 

Geological  Society  of  America,  Bulletin.     Published  annually  since  1 
at  Rochester.  N.  Y.     Index  to  vols,  i  \.  published  in  l<)00. 


172  NORTH    AMERICA 

International  Geography.  Edited  by  H.  R.  Mill.  D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, New  York,  1900.  Contains  several  chapters  on  North  America 
by  various  authors. 

Journal  of  Geology.  Edited  by  T.  C.  Chamberlin  and  published  at  the 
University  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. 

Merrill,  G.  P.  Rocks,  Rock- Weathering,  and  Soils.  The  Macmillan 
Company,  New  York,  1897. 

National  Geographic  Magazine.     Washington,  D.  C. 

National  Geographic  Monographs.  American  Book  Company,  New 
York,  1895.     One  volume  published. 

Powell,  J.  \V.  Exploration  of  the  Colorado  River  of  the  West.  Pub- 
lished by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington,  1875. 

Powell,  J.  W.  Cations  of  the  Colorado.  Flood  &  Vincent,  Meade- 
ville,  Pa.,  1895. 

RUSSELL,  I.  C.  Lakes  of  North  America,  Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1895; 
Glaciers  of  North  America,  Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston,  1897  ;  Volcanoes  of 
North  America,  The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  1897  ;  Rivers 
of  North  America,  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1898  ;  The  Names  of 
the  Larger  Geographical  Features  of  North  America,  in  Bulletin  of 
the  Geographical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  ii,  1899,  pp.  55-68. 

Shaler,  N.  S.  Nature  and  Man  in  America.  Scribner's  Sons,  New 
York,  1 89 1. 

Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography  and  Travel.  North  America  : 
Canada  and  Newfoundland,  by  S.  E.  Dawson  ;  United  States,  by  K. 
Gannett ;  Central  America  and  West  Indies,  by  A.  H.  Keane.  Pub- 
lished by  Edward  Stanford,  London. 

Tarr,  R.  S.    Elementary  Physical  Geography.    Macmillan  &  Co.,  1895. 

United  States  Geological  Survey.  Bibliography  and  Index,  contained  in 
Bulletins  No.  100,  127,  177,  188,  and  189,  issued  by  the  Survey. 
The  reader  is  referred  especially  to  the  Geological  Atlas  and  the 
Topographic  Atlas,  published  by  the  Survey. 

Warman,  P.  C.  Bibliography  and  Index  to  the  Publications  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey.  United  States  Geological  Survey, 
Bulletin  No.  100,  Washington,  1893.  (Relates  to  publications  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  issued  previous  to  1892  ;  continued 
in  Bulletin  No.  177  by  the  same  author.) 

Warman,  P.  C.  Catalogue  and  Index  of  the  Publications  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  1880  to  jqoi.  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  Bulletin  No.  177,  Washington,  1901. 

Weeks,  F.  B.  Bibliography  of  North  American  Geology,  Paleontology, 
Petrology,  and  Mineralogy  for  the  Years  i8Q2-igoo,  inclusive. 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  Bulletins  No.  188  and  189,  Wash- 
ington, 1902. 

Whitney,  J.  D.  The  United  States.  2  vols.  Little,  Brown  &  Co., 
Boston,  1889  and  1894. 


JVIEAN    ANNJAL    RAINFALL    &.    TEMPERATURE 


CHAPTER    III 

CLIMATE 

The  Elements  of  Climate 

North  America,  embracing  as  it  does  essentially  a 
quadrant  of  the  earth's  surface,  presents  a  variety  of  climatic 
conditions  ranging  from  those  characteristic  of  the  equa- 
torial belt  to  those  normal  to  polar  regions,  as  well  as  every 
gradation  due  to  variations  in  elevation  from  sea-level  and 
even  below  that  horizon  in  Death  Valley,  California,  to  the 
summits  of  high  plateaus  and  lofty  mountains. 

The  principal  elements  of  the  weather  which  go  to  make 
up  the  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  embraced  in  the" 
broader  term  climate  are  temperature,  precipitation,  and 
the  winds.  On  the  accompanying  map,  Plate  II.  the 
mean  annual  temperature  of  the  continent  is  represented 
by  isotherms,  or  lines  drawn  through  localities  having 
the  same  average  temperature  for  the  year.  On  the  same 
map  is  also  shown  in  blue  the  average  depth  of  precipita- 
tion, including  both  rains  and  melted  snow.  On  Fig.  24 
lines  are  drawn  through  points  having  the  same  average 
barometrical  pressure  (isobars)  for  the  months  of  January 
and  July,  together  with  arrows  indicating  the  general  direc- 
tion of  the  surface  winds  (hiring  each  of  these  in.  nit  lis. 
which  may  be  considered  as  representative  of  the  summer 
and  winter  seasons.  The  data  shown  on  these  maps  have 
been  compiled  mainly  from  the  reports  of  the  weather  bu- 
reaus of  Canada,  the  United  States,  and  Mexico,  and  indi- 
cate, at  least  in  a  general  way.  a  summary  of  what  is  known 
concerning  the  main  meteorological  elements  which  deter- 
mine the  climatic  conditions  in  North  America.  An  exami- 
nation of  these  maps  will  Suggest  certain  general  conclu- 
sions in  reference  to  the  Kading  characteristics  ol  the  cli- 

17  '■ 


Fig.  24. — Average  barometric  pressure  and  direction  of  wind  for 
January  and  July. 


CLIMATE  i/5 

mate  in  various  portions  of  the  continent  and  the  changes 
they  undergo  from  season  to  season. 

Distribution  of  Heat  and  Light. — The  distribution  over 
the  earth's  surface  of  the  heat  and  light  received  from  the 
sun  is  not  only  of  fundamental  importance  as  respects  cli- 
mate, but  furnishes  a  part  of  the  essential  conditions  on 
which  depend  the  presence  and  distribution  of  living  organ- 
isms. The  heat  and  light,  or  more  accurately,  the  radiant 
energy  of  the  sun,  the  full  significance  of  which  is  probably 
not  thoroughly  understood,  we  term,  for  convenience,  inso- 
lation. The  intensity  and  seasonal  distribution  of  insolation 
are  prime  factors  on  which  many  important  results  hinge. 

Owing  to  the  inclination  of  the  axis  about  which  the 
earth  rotates  (230  27')  to  the  plane  in  which  the  earth  travels 
about  the  sun,  or  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  the  northern  end 
of  the  axis  is  turned  towards  the  sun  in  summer  and  away 
from  it  in  winter — that  is,  the  axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth 
at  all  times  is  parallel  to  the  same  imaginary  straight  line. 
As  a  result,  the  sun  appears  to  migrate  northward  in  the 
h'eavens  during  the  spring-time  of  each  year,  being  verti- 
cal over  the  equator  on  March  21st,  and  to  an  observer  in 
north  latitude  230  27'  rises  higher  and  higher  each  moon, 
until  on  June  21st  it  is  vertically  overhead;  and  then  returns 
southward.  The  latitude  in  which  the  sun  is  in  the  zenith 
at  the  time  of  its  greatest  northward  migration  determines 
the  position  of  an  imaginary  line  on  the  earth's  surface, 
named  the  Tropic  of  Cancer.  This  line,  as  shown  on  the 
accompanying  maps,  crosses  the  Bahama  Islands,  passes 
about  40  miles  to  the  northward  of  Havana,  divides  Mexico 
into  two  approximately  equal  parts,  and  cuts  the  peninsula 
of  Lower  California  near  its  southern  end.  The  portion  of 
the  continent  to  the  south  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  lies  within 
the  t<  »rrid  zone. 

When  the  sun  is  vertical  over  the  equator,  as  it  is  about 
March  21st  and  September  23d  each  year,  its  rays,  not 
allowing  for  refraction,  arc  tangent  t.»  the  earth'-  surface 
at  the  poles,  and  the  hours  of  light  ami  darkness  arc  equal 
the  world  over.  During  the  winter  season  the  sun  appears 
to  migrate  southward  of  the  equator  until  December  2ISt, 


176  NORTH    AMERICA 

when  it  is  vertical  at  noon  at  all  points  situated  in  south 
latitude  230  27',  which  is  termed  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn. 
Its  rays  are  then  tangent  to  the  earth's  surface  in  the  north- 
ern hemisphere  in  latitude  66°  33',  which  defines  the  posi- 
tion of  the  arctic  circle.  This  imaginary  line  on  the  earth's 
surface,  as  is  indicated  on  the  accompanying  maps,  crosses 
Canada  to  the  north  of  Hudson  Bay,  and  passes  through 
Alaska  near  where  the  Porcupine  River  joins  the  Yukon. 
To  the  north  of  the  arctic  circle  lies  the  frigid  zone.  Be- 
tween the  torrid  and  frigid  zones  is  situated  the  temperate 
zone,  within  which  is  included  about  seven-eighths  of 
North  America,  exclusive  of  Greenland.  The  relation  of 
the  continent  to  the  three  great  zones  of  climate  into  which 
the  northern  hemisphere  is  divided  is  thus  most  fortunate 
so  far  as  man's  activities  are  concerned. 

The  climatic  zones  just  referred  to,  while  based  on  pre- 
cise astronomical  data  and  representing  important  facts,  are 
not  separated  one  from  another  by  tangible  lines,  and  might 
easily  pass  undiscovered  by  one  who  studied  only  the  sur- 
face characteristics  of  the  earth.  Each  summer  a  wave 
of  heat  and  light  sweeps  northward  over  the  continent  and 
reaches  beyond  the  pole;  and  each  winter  a  counteracting 
wave  of  cold  and  darkness  moves  southward,  the  influence 
of  which  is  marked  even  well  within  the  torrid  zone.  A 
comparison  of  the  isothermal  lines  drawn  on  the  map 
forming  Plate  II  with  the  parallels  of  latitude  shows  at 
a  glance  that  there  is  only  a  general  relationship  between 
the  two.  In  order  to  understand  this  discrepancy  between 
what  might  be  expected  from  astronomical  considerations 
in  reference  to  the  distribution  of  solar  energy  and  the 
actual  conditions  as  learned  by  observation,  it  is  necessary 
to  take  a  more  criticial  view  of  the  manner  in  which  insola- 
tion is  received  by  the  continent,  and  also  to  consider  sec- 
ondary conditions  which  exert  far-reaching  influences  on 
its  distribution. 

The  amount  of  heat,  or  to  avoid  objections,  the  distri- 
bution of  insolation  over  North  America,  depends  on  three 
primary  conditions:  First,  the  angle  at  which  the  sun's  rays 
strike  the  earth,  the  range  being  from  zero  to  900;  sec- 


CLIMATE  177 

ond.  the  length  of  time  a  particular  locality  is  exposed  to 
sunlight;  and  third,  variations  in  the  distance  of  the  earth 
from  the  sun.  Each  of  these  conditions  varies  from  day  to 
day  for  every  locality  throughout  the  continent.  The  sun 
is  highest  in  the  heavens  in  the  torrid  zone,  being  twice 
vertically  overhead  each  year  at  every  locality,  and  the 
hours  of  light  and  darkness  each  day  are  approximately 
equal  throughout  the  year.  North  of  the  torrid  zone,  how- 
ever, the  rays  of  the  sun  become  more  and  more  oblique  to 
the  earth's  surface,  and  hence  insolation  becomes  weaker 
and  weaker  for  a  given  period  of  sunshine  as  one  travels 
from  south  to  north.  But  the  hours  of  sunlight  each  day 
undergo  marked  variations,  lengthening  from  December 
2 1  st  to  June  21st,  and  shortening  as  the  sun  makes  its 
southward  migration.  At  the  north  pole,  as  all  know,  there 
are  six  months  of  light  and  six  months  of  darkness  each 
year.  The  amount  of  insolation  reaching  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  continent  each  day  increases  with  the  lengthen- 
ing of  the  hours  of  light,  and  during  midsummer  is  greater 
for  a  given  area  in  a  single  day  (twenty-four  hours)  than 
the  amount  received  by  a  similar  area  in  the  torrid  zone. 
The  almost  magical  springing  into  life  and  bloom  of  the 
vegetation  over  the  northern  portion  of  the  continent  with 
the  lengthening  of  the  hours  of  sunshine  each  summer  is 
thus  explained.  In  the  portion  of  the  continent  within  the 
temperate  zone,  more  especially  within  the  continental 
basin,  the  large  number  of  hours  of  sunshine  during  a  sum- 
mer's day  is  frequently  accompanied  by  a  temperature  as 
great  as  is  usually  experienced  in  the  torrid  zone.  It  is  the 
high  summer  temperature  of  this  region,  together  with 
the  lengthened  duration  of  sunshine  in  the  growing  sea- 
son, that  makes  the  Mississippi  basin  and  the  adjacent  re- 
gion on  the  east  and  north  so  favourable  for  agriculture 
when  the  requisite  amount  of  moisture  is  present. 

The  distribution  of  heat  over  the  earth's  surface  de- 
pends not  only  on  the  direct  influence  of  insolation,  bul  on 
it-  transfer  from  one  locality  to  another  through  the  agi 
of  the  winds  and  ocean  currents.    The  movements  of  the 
water-  of  the  ocean,  it  will  be  remembered,  are  largely 


178  NORTH    AMERICA 

under  the  control  of  the  winds,  so  that  the  essential  factor 
in  the  transfer  of  heat  from  place  to  place  is  atmospheric 
circulation.  The  primary  causes  of  movements  in  the  air, 
as  is  a  matter  of  current  knowledge,  are  the  differences  that 
arise  in  temperature  at  various  localities.  In  regions  where 
the  air  becomes  more  highly  heated  than  over  adjacent 
areas  it  expands,  and  in  consequence  becomes  lighter,  vol- 
ume for  volume,  than  the  air  over  neighbouring  areas,  and 
is  forced  upward  and  overflows  aloft.  The  overflow  or 
dispersion  of  the  warmer  and  lighter  air  above  gives  origin 
to  a  reduction  in  barometric  pressure,  the  column  of  mer- 
cury in  a  barometer  being  counterbalanced  by  the  pressure 
of  the  air  above  it.  Briefly  stated,  the  air  near  the  earth's 
surface  flows  towards  regions  of  low,  and  away  from  regions 
of  high  barometric  pressure,  and  winds  are  established. 
The  directions  taken  by  the  winds  are  influenced  or  con- 
trolled in  various  ways. 

The  Planetary  Winds. — The  great  movements  in  the 
atmosphere  originate  from  differences  in  temperature  be- 
tween the  warm  equatorial  and  cold  polar  regions.  This 
alone  would  cause  the  cold  air  from  either  pole  to  flow 
towards  the  equator  as  surface  winds,  and  the  warm  air 
in  the  equatorial  belt  to  ascend  and  overflow  aloft  towards 
either  pole.  The  earth's  rotation,  however,  influences  the 
direction  of  these  winds  and  causes  them  to  be  deflected 
from  the  lines  of  longitude  which  they  would  otherwise 
follow.  In  the  northern  hemisphere  the  air-currents  are 
deflected  to  the  right  and  in  the  southern  hemisphere  to 
the  left  of  their  initial  directions.  The  best  known  exam- 
ples of  these  planetary  winds,  as  they  are  termed,  are  the 
trade-winds,  which  blow  from  the  northeast  in  the  northern 
and  from  the  southeast  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  Be- 
tween these  two  belts  of  converging  winds  lies  the  equa- 
torial belt  of  calm,  some  300  miles  wide,  which  also  encircles 
the  earth  and  is  termed  the  doldrums. 

In  the  quadrant  of  the  earth's  surface  occupied  by 
North  America  the  climatic  conditions  are  controlled  in  a 
large  measure  by  the  planetary  winds.  In  the  equatorial 
belt  of  calms  the  barometric  pressure  is  lower  than   on 


CLIMATE  179 

either  side,  the  temperature  is  uniformly  high,  the  air  is 
heavily  charged  with  moisture,  and  torrential  rains  are  fre- 
quent. In  the  belt  of  the  northeast  trades  the  weight  of 
the  air  for  a  given  area  is  greater  than  in  the  doldrums, 
the  wind  blows  with  remarkable  unformity  both  of  direc- 
tion and  force,  the  sky  is  normally  clear,  and  rain  infrequent 
except  when  the  warm  moist  air  is  forced  upward  either  by 
local  storms  or  on  coming  in  contact  with  high  land.  The 
trade-winds  blow  across  the  West  Indies,  Mexico,  and  much 
of  Central  America.  To  the  north  of  the  trade-wind  belt  is 
a  belt  of  prevailingly  high  barometrical  pressure,  light 
variable  winds,  narrower  and  less  well  denned  than  the  dol- 
drums, which  encircles  the  earth  in  the  region  of  the  Tropic 
of  Cancer.  This  belt  of  calms,  although  familiar  to  sailors, 
to  whom  it  is  known  as  the  "  horse  latitudes,"  is  ill  denned 
on  the  land,  where  its  presence  is  masked  by  changes  due 
to  local  conditions.  To  the  north  of  the  tropical  calm  belt 
the  prevailing  surface  winds  are  from  the  westward,  and 
owe  their  direction  to  the  constant  flow  of  the  upper  air- 
currents  in  their  poleward  journey,  under  the  influence  of 
the  earth's  rotation.  This  great  belt  of  winds  from  the 
westward  crosses  the  portion  of  North  America  including 
the  United  States  and  southern  Canada,  but  it  is  subject  to 
many  disturbances.  The  northern  portion  of  the  continent 
extends  into  the  little  known  polar  region  of  prevailingly 
low  barometrical  pressure,  where  midsummer  and  midwin- 
ter calms  normally  prevail. 

The  great  world-encircling  currents  of  the  atmosphere, 
namely,  the  trade-winds,  blowing  towards  the  southwest  or 
west  across  the  Caribbean  and  Mexican  region,  and  the 
prevailing  westerlies,  or  winds  blowing  in  an  easterly 
direction,  over  the  broad  temperate  portion  of  North  Amer- 
ica, exert  the  main  control  on  the  climate  of  the  continent. 

The  Seasons. — Of  primary  importance  to  the  inhabitants 
of  North  America  is  the  fact  thai  the  climatic  belts  deter- 
mined by  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  to  the  plane 
of  the  ecliptic  are  subject  to  annual  migration  towards  the 
north  and  south.  In  the  torrid  zone  the  equatorial  bell  of 
calms,  with  its  humid  and  oppressively  hot  atmosphere,  p 


i  So  NORTH    AMERICA 

vailing  cloudiness,  and  heavy  rains,  and  the  belt  of  the 
northeast  trades,  with  its  prevailingly  clear  skies  and  re- 
freshing breezes,  do  not  occupy  the  same  positions 
throughout  the  year,  but  migrate  with  the  sun.  The  mi- 
gration of  these  two  strongly  contrasted  climatic  belts 
brings  to  the  otherwise  remarkably  uniform  conditions  of 
the  atmosphere  over  the  West  Indies,  Central  America,  and 
Mexico,  two,  in  general  well-defined,  periods  each  year, 
namely,  a  wet  and  a  dry  season,  the  former  occurring  in 
the  summer  and  the  latter  in  the  winter.  It  is  to  be 
borne  in  mind  that  between  the  tropics  there  are,  with 
certain  local  exceptions,  but  two  seasons  each  year,  the 
leading  contrasts  of  which  are  determined  by  differences 
in  rainfall. 

To  the  north  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  the  seasonal 
changes  are  more  varied  than  in  the  torrid  zone,  and  con- 
trasts in  temperature  become  the  most  marked  climatic 
feature;  while  precipitation,  although  in  general  somewhat 
evenly  distributed  throughout  the  year,  is  more  abundant 
in  winter  than  in  summer.  On  account,  however,  of  the 
greater  diversity  in  the  climatic  changes  experienced  each 
year  within  the  temperate  zone,  four  seasons  are  recognised, 
the  most  distinctive  features  of  which  depend  on  changes  in 
both  temperature  and  humidity. 

In  the  northern  portion  of  the  temperate  zone,  and  ex- 
tending over  the  arctic  zone,  the  seasons  are  again  reduced 
to  two,  summer  and  winter,  the  contrasted  conditions  per- 
taining mainly  to  temperature  and  light. 

A  marked  variation,  which  has  an  important  bearing  not 
only  on  climate,  but  on  the  distribution  of  life  encountered 
in  passing  from  equatorial  to  polar  regions,  is  found  in  the 
distribution  of  light.  Between  the  tropics  the  number  of 
hours  of  light  and  darkness  each  day  is  approximately  equal ; 
in  the  temperate  zone  there  is  considerable  diversity  from 
season  to  season,  which  increases  with  increase  in  latitude; 
and  uniformity,  of  a  different  character  than  at  the  far  south, 
again  becomes  prominent  in  the  frigid  zone,  where  the 
number  of  hours  of  light  each  day  is  greatly  prolonged 
during  the  summer  and   correspondingly  decreased   durr 


CLIMATE  1S1 

ing  the  winter.  The  extreme  contrast  occurs  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  pole,  where  during  the  summer  sea- 
son the  sun  is  continuously  above,  and  in  winter  continu- 
ously below  the  horizon,  or  in  familiar  language,  there  is  a 
six-months  day  (light)  and  a  six-months  night  (darkness). 

In  going  from  the  equatorial  to  north  polar  regions 
there  is  a  general  decrease  in  mean  annual  temperature,  and 
in  general  a  decrease  also  in  precipitation,  but  great  vari- 
ations in  these  gradual  changes,  with  increase  in  latitude, 
occur  which  are  both  continental  and  local  in  character. 
In  winter  the  interior  portions  of  the  continent,  and  espe- 
cially the  plateaus  and  mountains,  are  colder  than  the  lands 
in  corresponding  latitudes  near  the  oceans;  while  in  sum- 
mer the  reverse  is  true,  the  margin  of  the  continent  being 
cooler  than  the  broad  interior. 

In  this  general  view  of  the  climatic  zones  and  the  nor- 
mal changes  they  undergo  we  may  note  that  the  torrid 
zone  is  characterized  by  its  simplicity  and  monotony  of 
climatic  conditions,  although  disturbed  at  times,  especially 
in  the  West  Indies,  by  occasional  great  cyclonic  storms, 
termed  hurricanes,  which  occur,  however,  at  quite  definite 
seasons.  The  temperate  belt  is  equally  well  marked  by  its 
complex  and  frequently  changing  atmospheric  conditions, 
the  winds  being  subject  to  numerous  and  great  variations, 
and  storms  of  diverse  character  being  frequent.  The  frigid 
zone,  again,  is  without  conspicuous  variations  except  dur- 
ing the  change  from  its  monotonous  summer  to  its  still 
more  uniform  winter  weather,  and  the  reverse  change  six 
months  later.  The  disturbances  in  the  balance  of  atmos- 
pheric conditions  at  the  far  north,  or  the  storms,  are  of  a 
much  less  varied  character  than  in  the  fickle  temperate  zone 
— thunder-storms  and  tornadoes,  for  example,  being  un- 
known. 

It  is  the  summer  migration  of  a  heated  bell  from  the 
south  northward  across  the  temperate  zone,  and  the  equally 
conspicuous  winter  advances  of  cold  from  the  north  south- 
ward aero--  tin-  same  broad  region,  which  gives  to  the 
United  States  and  the  southern  portion  of  Canada  a  con- 
spicuously changeable  climate.  The  temperate  zone,  so  far 
13 


i §2  NORTH    AMERICA 

at  least  as  North  America  is  concerned,  deserves  its  name 
only  when  the  mean  of  the  yearly  changes  in  temperature  is 
considered,  as  much  of  it  is  hotter  in  summer  than  equal 
areas  between  the  tropics,  and  in  winter  over  all  of  its  north- 
ern half  the  cold  is,  at  times,  nearly  or  quite  as  intense  as  dur- 
ing the  same  season  in  the  far  north.  As  a  whole,  the  por- 
tion of  the  continent  embraced  in  the  temperate  zone  is 
characterized  by  its  pronounced  seasonal  changes,  inclu- 
ding wide  extremes  of  heat  and  cold  over  large  areas,  and 
by  its  frequently  sudden  and  strongly  marked  weather 
changes  during  short  periods  of  time.  It  is  a  highly  sug- 
gestive fact  that  of  all  the  great  climatic  zones  the  one  hav- 
ing the  most  changeable  climate,  the  greatest  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold,  and  the  most  frequent  storms  should  be  the 
one  in  which  man  has  reached  the  highest  development 
both  of  body  and  mind.  Evidently  it  is  the  struggle  for 
existence,  when  not  too  severe,  which  insures  advance- 
ment. The  part  of  North  America  most  densely  inhabited 
by  descendants  of  Europeans,  and  the  portion  of  the  continent 
where  intellectual  development  has  made  the  greatest  ad- 
vance, is  the  east-central  portion,  where  not  only  the  variation 
of  climate  from  season  to  season,  but  the  weather  changes 
from  week  to  week  and  day  to  day  are  the  most  conspicuous. 
Secondary  Conditions  influencing  Climate. — While  the 
primary  conditions  controlling  the  climate  of  North  Amer- 
ica in  common  with  all  other  portions  of  the  earth's  surface 
depend  on  the  relation  of  the  earth  to  the  sun,  there  are 
many  secondary  conditions  to  be  considered.  First  in  im- 
portance among  these,  so  far  as  the  broader  features  of  the 
climate  of  the  continent  are  concerned,  is  the  unequal  heat- 
ing of  land  and  water  areas.  During  summer,  more  espe- 
cially in  the  temperate  zone,  the  land  becomes  more  highly 
heated  than  the  adjacent  oceans,  and  an  inflow  of  the  cooler 
and  moister  air  from  the  sea  over  the  land  occurs.  In  win- 
ter the  land  cools  more  quickly  and  to  a  greater  degree 
than  the  adjacent  waters,  and  the  tendency  of  the  heavier 
air  over  the  land  is  to  flow  outward  as  surface  winds.  Con- 
tinental winds  are  thus  generated,  similar  in  their  origin  to 
the  familiar  land  and  sea  breezes  of  the  ocean  shore  in 


CLIMATE  i  S3 

summer,  but  on  a  large  scale,  which  have  an  important 
bearing  on  the  seasonal  changes.  The  influence  of  the 
continental  winds  is  sufficiently  well  marked  to  give  North 
America  two  general  classes  of  climate.  One  pertains  to 
inland  regions,  is  characterized  by  great  contrasts  in  tem- 
perature and  humidity  between  summer  and  winter,  and  is 
termed  continental.  The  other  pertains  to  the  border  of 
the  land  where,  on  account  of  the  equalizing  influence  of 
large  water  borders,  the  contrast  between  the  climate  of 
summer  and  winter  is  less  pronounced,  and  has  received 
the  general  title  of  oceanic  climate.  The  climate  of  the 
Dakotas,  for  example,  is  of  the  continental  type,  while  that 
of  Xew  Jersey  is  of  the  oceanic  type. 

The  unequal  heating  and  cooling  of  adjacent  portions 
of  land  areas  also  produces  important  atmospheric  move- 
ments, as,  for  instance,  when  broad,  treeless  plains  become 
more  highly  heated  in  summer  than  adjacent  forested  areas; 
or  on  account  of  rapid  radiation  become  excessively  cold 
in  winter  and  lower  the  temperature  of  the  air  above  them. 
In  the  first  instance  an  inflow  of  cooler  and  heavier  air  from 
adjacent  regions  would  be  established;  and  in  the  second 
example  the  chilled  air  would  tend  to  flow  outward,  thus, 
in  each  instance,  establishing  winds  which  usually  acquire 
a  more  or  less  well-pronounced  circular  motion.  The 
Prairie  plains  and  the  Great  plateaus  to  the  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  become  highly  heated  in  summer,  and 
together  with  several  other  similar  regions  in  North  Amer- 
ica, meet  the  first  of  the  conditions  just  considered;  while 
the  higher  portions  of  the  Great  plateau,  especially  at  the 
north,  and  the  still  more  elevated  mountains  of  Montana, 
Colorado,  etc.,  become  excessively  cold  in  winter  and  illus- 
trate the  other  extreme. 

Mountains  serve  to  deflect  the  winds  blowing  against 
them  either  to  one  side  or  upward,  the  former  frequently 
producing  important  changes  in  directit  m  >  »t  the  surface  air- 
currents,  and  the  latter,  by  causing  the  air  to  rise,  permits 
of  its  expansion  and  consequent  fooling,  thus  favouring 
precipitation.  For  this  and  other  reasons  precipitation  in- 
creases with  elevation,  at  least  until  an  altitude  ol  many 


1 84  NORTH    AMERICA 

thousands  of  feet  is  reached,  and  the  mountains  are  cooler 
and  more  humid  than  the  adjacent  valleys.  The  air-cur- 
rents on  passing  over  a  mountain  range  and  descending 
are  warmed  by  compression,  and  having  lost  a  part  and  in 
many  observed  instances  a  large  percentage  of  the  moisture 
they  previously  contained,  become  warm,  drying  winds. 
The  chinook  winds,  as  they  are  termed  in  America,  are 
marked  examples  of  the  influence  exerted  by  mountains  on 
climatic  conditions. 

What  are  termed  above  the  secondary  conditions,  tend- 
ing to  modify  climate,  produce  such  great  changes  in  the 
distribution  of  rainfall,  temperature,  etc.,  and  in  the  influ- 
ence of  the  planetary  winds,  that  the  subdivision  of  the 
northern  hemisphere  into  torrid,  temperate,  and  frigid 
zones,  while  based  on  astronomical  data,  does  not  serve  to 
represent  actual  conditions,  except  in  a  general  way,  in 
reference  even  to  the  single  element  of  temperature  ex- 
pressed in  these  names.  A  comparison  of  the  isotherms 
and  of  the  distribution  of  precipitation  as  indicated  on 
the  preceding  maps,  with  the  parallels  of  latitude,  shows  at 
once  that  these  two  most  important  elements  of  climate  are 
conspicuously  independent  of  distance  from  the  equator. 
A  logical  basis  for  subdividing  the  continent  into  climatic 
provinces  must  therefore  be  sought  in  other  directions. 


CLIMATIC    PROVINCES 

In  order  to  obtain  a  comprehensive  idea  of  the  climate 
of  a  continent,  it  is  obviously  desirable  to  subdivide  it  into 
areas  having  more  or  less  similar  and  distinct  atmospheric 
conditions.  The  leading  difficulty  in  making  such  subdivi- 
sions is  the  well-known  fact  that  the  climate  of  any  region 
which  may  be  chosen  passes  by  insensible  gradations  into 
that  of  adjacent  regions,  and  any  boundaries  that  may  be 
drawn  are  to  a  considerable  extent  artificial  and  arbitrary. 
While  the  true  basis  on  which  to  establish  climatic  areas 
or  provinces  is  the  resultant  of  all  the  weather  elements 
which  go  to  make  up  the  atmospheric  conditions  recognised 
under  the  broader  term  climate,  so  many  factors  have  to 


CLIMATE    &    LIFE    PROVINCES 


D 


CLIMATE  185 

be  considered  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  arrive  at  a 
general  acceptable  conclusion.  The  principal  elements  of 
the  weather  to  be  considered  are,  approximately,  in  the 
order  of  their  importance,  beginning  with  the  one  which 
exerts  almost  universal  control — temperature,  precipita- 
tion, the  winds,  absolute  and  relative  humidity  of  the  air, 
and  evaporation. 

In  North  America  there  are  voluminous  records  in  ref- 
erence to  each  of  these  elements  of  the  weather,  embracing 
considerable  lengths  of  time,  and  relating  mainly  to  the 
United  States  and  southeastern  Canada,  but  not  sufficient 
to  enable  one  to  subdivide  the  entire  continent  into  climatic 
provinces.  The  lack  of  weather  records  embracing  the  en- 
tire continent  may  be  supplied  in  part  by  what  may  be 
termed  the  natural  records  of  atmospheric  conditions  as  ex- 
pressed by  the  flora  and  fauna,  as  well  as  by  soil  conditions 
and  topography.  In  recognition  of  this  principle,  the  cli- 
matic provinces  of  North  America  here  adopted  have  been 
made  to  conform  to  its  life  zones. 

The  major  climatic  divisions  of  North  America  here 
provisionally  adopted  are,  in  their  general  order  fr<  >m  s<  >uth 
to  north,  the  Tropical,  Lower  Austral,  Upper  Austral, 
Transition,  Boreal,  and  Arctic  (Plate  III).  These  several 
divisions  are  termed  climatic  provinces,  and  are  assumed 
to  coincide  with  those  of  the  life  regions  as  mapped  by 
C.  Hart  Merriam.  The  basis  for  classification  is  mainly 
temperature.  In  the  main,  the  northern  boundaries  of  the 
provinces  and  their  higher  limits  in  mountainous  regions 
are  determined  by  the  temperature  of  the  season  of  growth 
and  reproduction  among  plants  and  animals;  while  then- 
southern  boundaries  or  lower  limits  on  the  mountains  are 
determined  by  the  temperature  of  a  brief  period  during  the 
hottest  portion  of  the  year.  A  more  definite  accounl  ol 
the  reasons  for  choosing  these  limitations  will  be  given 
later  in  discussing  life  areas.  While  the  principal  basis  for 
establishing  climatic  provinces  is  temperature,  many  other 
conditions  are  also  recognised,  chief  among  which  1-  pre- 
cipitation. Several  of  the  climatic  provinces  have  two  divi 
sions,  namely,  a  humid  and  an  arid,  the  dividing  line  being 


1 86  NORTH    AMERICA 

approximately  the  one  hundredth  meridian.  These  are 
well  defined  and  important  in  the  tropical,  austral,  and 
transitional,  but  less  definite  and  less  well  known  in  the 
boreal  and  arctic  provinces.  The  regions  embraced  in  the 
several  climatic  provinces  named  above,  as  well  as  their 
humid  and  arid  divisions,  so  far  as  now  understood,  are 
shown  on  the  accompanying  map. 

The  Tropical  Province  (Plate  III). — This  is  the  most 
southern  of  the  climatic  provinces  which  it  is  convenient  to 
recognise  in  North  America,  and  includes  the  West  Indies, 
Central  America,  and  southern  Mexico,  together  with  a 
narrow  strip  on  each  coast  of  northern  Mexico  and  the 
extreme  southern  ends  of  the  peninsulas  of  Florida  and  of 
Lower  California.  While  the  land  areas  in  this  widely  ex- 
tended province  present  conspicuous  differences,  their  cli- 
mate in  general  is  characterized  by  a  high  mean  annual 
temperature  with  but  moderate  seasonal  or  daily  variations, 
and  by  the  occurrence  in  general  of  a  wet  and  a  dry  season 
each  year.  The  prevailing  winds  are  the  northeast  trades. 
While  the  average  yearly  temperature  is  high,  being  in 
general  about  8o°  F.,  the  heat  in  summer  is  less  intense 
than  in  many  portions  of  the  austral  provinces.  In  winter 
the  temperature  does  not  fall  sufficiently  to  produce  frost, 
except  on  the  higher  mountains,  which,  in  fact,  belong  to 
one  or  more  of  the  other  provinces  named  above.  On  as- 
cending the  mountains  a  rapid  change  to  cooler  and  even  to 
frigid  zones  is  experienced.  Snow  occurs  on  the  higher 
portions  of  the  mountains  of  Central  America  and  Mexico, 
and  in  a  few  instances,  as  on  the  great  volcanic  cones  in 
sight  from  the  City  of  Mexico,  is  perennial.  On  the  moun- 
tains just  referred  to  ail  of  the  several  climatic  provinces 
are  represented  by  well-characterized  zones,  arranged  one 
above  another,  and  presenting  in  epitome  the  general 
changes  one  would  experience  in  travelling  from  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

In  marked  contrast  to  the  prevailing  uniformity  of  tem- 
perature at  corresponding  elevations  throughout  the  trop- 
ical provinces  is  the  inequality  in  rainfall  in  reference  to 
both  seasonal  periods  and  differences  in  geographical  posi- 


CLIMATE  187 

tion.  Of  the  annual  changes,  the  most  pronounced  and 
characteristic  is  the  alternation  of  wet  and  dry  periods. 
During  the  summer  season,  or  in  general  from  May  to 
October,  the  air  is  usually  clouded  for  at  least  a  portion  of 
each  day,  and  heavy  downpours  of  rain  occur.  Through- 
out the  remainder  of  the  year  the  clear  skies  and  refresh- 
ing breezes,  such  as  on  the  ocean  are  normally  character- 
istic of  the  trade-wind  belt,  prevail.  The  remarkable  regu- 
larity with  which  these  changes  occur  each  year  suggests 
at  once  that  they  are  due  to  the  migrations  northward  and 
southward  with  the  sun  of  the  great  climatic  belts  encir- 
cling the  equatorial  region  of  the  earth.  In  summer  the 
equatorial  belt  of  calms  and  heavy  rainfall  not  only  migrates 
northward  and  occupies  a  portion  of  Central  America, 
bringing  to  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  cloudy  skies  and 
abundant  precipitation,  but  seems  to  be  carried  bodily  still 
farther  northward,  so  that  the  influence  of  the  southeast 
trades  of  the  southern  hemisphere  makes  itself  felt,  and  four 
somewhat  well-marked  annual  changes  occur,  namely,  two 
wet  and  two  dry  seasons.  What  is  known  of  the  climate  of 
this  extreme  southern  portion  of  the  province  under  review 
indicates  that  the  seasonal  changes,  especially  on  the  Carib- 
bean slope,  are  less  well  marked  than  in  its  central  portion, 
and  rain  is  frequently  copious  in  nearly  every  month  of  the 
year.  In  the  region  just  mentioned  the  mean  annual  pre- 
cipitation, as  at  Greytown,  for  example,  at  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  proposed  Nicaragua  Canal,  is  about  250 
inches,  and  in  exceptionally  wet  years  reaches  nearly  or 
quite  300  inches.  This  is,  so  far  as  known,  the  heaviest 
annual  precipitation  in  any  portion  of  North  America. 

In  the  West  Indies  the  rainy  season  begins,  in  general, 
in  May  and  lasts  until  October.  On  the  lowlands  of  east- 
ern and  south-central  Mexico  the  wet  season  commences  in 
June,  and  the  rains  increase  until  the  end  of  Jul)  and  end 
in  November,  This  region  lies  to  the  north  of  the  north- 
ern limit  reached  by  the  equatorial  bell  of  calm,  bul  the 
rains  in  the  summer  season  are  <\uv  t<>  the  same  general 
influence,  namely,  the  lowering  of  temperature  in  the  north- 
ward-moving upper  air-current^,  and  their  effect  "li  the 


1 88  NORTH    AMERICA 

trade-winds.  In  Cuba  and  along  the  northern  coast  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  when  the  trade-wind  belt  migrates  south- 
ward in  winter  the  influences  of  the  southward-moving 
storm  from  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  Atlantic  States  pro- 
duces what  are  termed  northers,  which  bring  a  chill  and  at 
times  frost,  more  especially  in  Florida  and  on  the  higher 
portions  of  Cuba. 

While  the  wide-reaching  seasonal  changes  within  the 
tropical  province  depend  on  the  migrations  of  the  planetary 
winds  northward  and  southward  with  the  sun,  and  are  due 
primarily  to  astronomical  conditions,  there  are  equally  well- 
marked  variations  in  rainfall  dependent  on  or  regulated 
by  geographical  conditions.  These  are  of  two  principal 
classes:  First,  elevation  of  the  land;  and  second,  the  rela- 
tion of  broad  land  areas  to  the  direction  of  the  prevailing 
winds,  each  of  which  is  abundantly  illustrated  in  the  trop- 
ical province. 

The  mountainous  islands  in  the  West  Indies  receive  a 
heavy  rainfall,  especially  on  their  windward  or  easterly 
slopes,  while  the  low  islands,  and  less  markedly  the  south- 
western border  of  the  higher  islands,  are  much  less  humid. 
The  eastern  side  of  Porto  Rico,  for  example,  has  an  abun- 
dant rainfall,  and  was  originally  clothed  with  a  luxuriant 
native  flora,  including  large  forest  trees,  while  the  lowlands 
on  its  southern  and  southwestern  border  are  subject  to 
drought,  and  irrigation  is  desirable  to  insure  the  growth  of 
crops.  Again,  while  the  mountainous  islands  of  the  Lesser 
Antilles,  with  their  luxuriantly  forested  slopes,  present  ideal 
pictures  of  tropical  loveliness,  low-lying  Sombrero,  Bar- 
buda, St.  Martin,  and  other  similar  islands  are  so  arid  that 
guano  has  accumulated  on  them  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
be  of  commercial  importance.  The  reason  for  these  stri- 
king contrasts  within  narrow  geographical  limits  is  readily 
seen  in  the  influence  of  the  highlands  on  the  trade-winds. 
These  air-currents  blowing  from  the  Atlantic  are  warm  and 
contain  a  high  percentage  of  moisture.  As  they  advance, 
however,  they  invade  regions  that  are  progressively  warmer 
and  warmer,  and  the  capacity  of  the  air  for  moisture  is  cor- 
respondingly increased.    For  this  reason  the  trade-winds  in 


CLIMATE  189 

crossing  low  land  become  drying  winds.  When  the  warm 
humid  air-currents  are  forced  upward,  however,  they  are 
cooled  in  part  by  contact  with  the  land,  but  to  a  greater 
extent  on  account  of  expansion  due  to  decreased  pressure; 
the  dew-point  is  thus  lowered,  and  when  saturation  is 
reached  precipitation  follows.  This  explanation  applies  also 
to  the  low  peninsula  of  Yucatan,  which  is  within  the  trade- 
wind  belt,  and  is  exceptional  among  the  lands  of  Central 
America,  on  account  of  its  dearth  of  forests,  but  in  this  in- 
stance, and  also  in  reference  to  the  similar  barren  condition 
of  the  Bahama  Islands,  in  addition  to  the  lowness  of  the 
land,  the  influence  of  the  underlying  porous,  limestone  rocks 
on  the  vegetable  growths  should  be  considered.  In  the  in- 
stances just  mentioned  the  rain  that  falls  is  quickly  absorbed 
by  the  cavernous  rocks,  and  surface  streams  are  rare. 

In  Central  America  the  influence  of  mountains  on  the 
climate  is  much  the  same  as  in  the  West  India  islands;  in 
fact,  the  narrow  rugged  belt  of  land  connecting  the  two 
Americas  may,  from  our  present  point  of  view,  be  consid- 
ered as  a  great  island  situated  mainly  within  the  trade-wind 
belt,  and  similar  to  Jamaica,  for  example,  in  its  influences 
on  the  winds  blowing  across  it.  The  eastern  slopes  of  the 
Central  American  mountains,  together  with  the  adjacent 
lowlands,  with  the  exception,  principally,  of  Yucatan,  are 
well  watered  and  clothed  with  dense  vegetation,  while  on 
the  western  slopes,  and  especially  over  the  narrow  fringe 
of  lowland  adjacent  to  the  Pacific,  the  rainfall  is  less  than 
on  the  Caribbean  coast,  and  the  forests  are  open  with  many 
grass-covered  areas  which  are  favourable  for  agriculture. 
In  the  mountainous  portions  of  the  West  [ndies  and  of 
Central  America,  on  account  of  the  more  healthy  condi- 
tions on  the  leeward  or  drier  sides,  a-  compared  with  the 
windward  or  humid  slopes  of  the  mountains,  the  town,  and 
the  principal  portion  of  the  white  inhabitants  arc  located  on 
their  western  borders.  Owing  to  the  great  humidity  and  the 
long-continued  high  temperature  during  the  hotter  portion 

of  the  vear  throughout  the  tropical  province,  mini)  ol   the 

lowland  to  tin-  eastward  of  tin-  high  mountains  i>  swampy 
and  unhealthy.     This  low  region  in   Mexico  and  Central 


190  NORTH    AMERICA 

America  is  known  as  the  ticrra  calicntc,  or  hot  country; 
on  the  mountains  and  plateaus,  or  in  general  where  the 
elevation  is  between  5,000  and  7,000  feet,  is  the  cooler 
and  remarkably  salubrious  ticrra  templada;  and  at  still 
higher  elevations  occur  the  ticrra  fric.  Owing  to  the 
decrease  in  temperature  with  elevation,  and  the  fact  that 
the  moist  warm  air  is  forced  to  rise,  and  in  consequence 
expands  on  passing  over  the  highland,  the  rainfall  prob- 
ably increases  with  elevation  through  the  three  zones  just 
referred  to. 

While  the  tropical  province  is  characterized  by  the  uni- 
formity with  which  its  atmospheric  changes  occur,  it  is 
nevertheless  in  part  subject  to  occasional  and  exceedingly 
violent  cyclonic  storms  termed  hurricanes,  which  begin  in 
the  torrid  zone,  travel  northward  (Fig.  26,  page  210),  and 
make  their  influence  felt  in  more  than  one  of  the  climatic 
provinces  into  which  North  America  is  here  divided.  Thun- 
der-storms, frequently  of  great  violence,  also  occur,  espe- 
cially in  the  Central  American  region  in  summer,  when  the 
doldrums  migrate  northward. 

The  trade-wind  belt  broadens  in  crossing  the  southern 
portion  of  the  North  American  continent,  and  on  the  west 
coast  and  during  its  greatest  northward  migration  reaches 
to  southern  California.  As  we  have  seen,  the  lowlands  not 
adjacent  to  mountains  in  the  Caribbean  region  receive 
little  or  no  rain  from  the  trade-winds,  for  the  reason  that 
the  prevailing  air-currents  are  moving  from  cooler  to 
warmer  regions,  and  therefore  have  their  capacity  for 
moisture  increased  as  they  advance  more  rapidly  than  their 
thirst  can  be  satiated.  The  trade-winds  are  thus  normally 
drying  winds.  The  same  principle  holds  true  for  continents 
as  well  as  islands.  The  trade-winds  on  reaching  the  eastern 
border  of  the  Mexican  plateau  are  forced  upward  and  part 
with  much  of  their  moisture  in  the  form  of  rain  and  snow, 
and  on  descending  to  the  lower  lands  bordering  the  Pacific 
are  desiccating  winds.  The  conditions  are  thus  much  the 
same  as  on  the  lowlands  situated  to  the  leeward  of  the 
mountains  of  the  West  Indies.  The  narrow  fringe  of  low- 
lying  country  on  the  west  border  of  the  main  body  of 


CLIMATE  191 

Mexico,  together  with  the  peninsula  of  Lower  California 
and  a  portion  of  the  southern  extremity  of  California,  are 
arid,  although  in  immediate  proximity  to  the  ocean.  The 
leading  characteristics  of  the  climate  of  this,  the  arid  por- 
tion of  the  tropical  province,  are  its  small  rainfall,  clear 
atmosphere,  high  mean  annual  temperature,  moderate  sea- 
sonal changes,  and  active  evaporation. 

The  most  typical  portion  of  the  arid  region  bordering 
the  Pacific  from  California  southward  lies  in  northwestern 
Mexico,  where  the  mean  annual  precipitation  on  the  west- 
ern slope  of  the  central  table-land  is  from  15  to  20  inches, 
but  gradually  diminishes  as  one  descends  to  the  lower 
lands  to  the  westward  to  10  inches,  and  even  to  5  inches 
or  less.  A  great  portion  of  the  lowlands  is  practically  a 
desert,  although,  as  is  common  on  the  desert-like  tracts  of 
this  continent,  it  is  sparingly  covered  with  detached  clumps 
of  cacti,  yuccas,  and  other  similar  plants  which  live  with 
the  minimum  of  water. 

The  hot,  arid  lands  of  the  southwest  just  referred  to 
are  similar  in  position,  in  reference  to  the  relation  of  land 
areas  to  the  trade-wind  belts,  as  other  trade-wind  deserts, 
as  they  are  termed,  such  as  the  Sahara,  which  occur  on  the 
leeward  side  of  continents  where  they  are  crossed  by  these 
drying  winds. 

The  Lozccr  Austral  Province  (Plate  III). — This  prov- 
ince embraces  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  of  the  United 
States  from  Connecticut  southward,  with  the  exception  of 
the  tropical  portion  of  southern  Florida;  the  Mississippi 
basin  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio;  and  includes  also 
many  of  the  valleys  amid  the  Pacific  mountains  from  the 
northern  boundary  of  California  to  central  Mexico.  The 
larger  geographical  conditions  on  which  the  boundaries  of 
the  province  depend  are  the  warm  currents  in  the  Atlantic, 
which  ameliorate  the  temperature  of  the  adjacent  land  as 
well  as  supply  it  with  .abundant  moisture;  the  low  elevation 
of  the  central  continental  basin,  which  permits  of  great  ex- 
tension northward  of  the  climatic  conditions  originating 

about  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  ami  the  mountainous  character 

of  the  western  portion  of  the  province,  where  the  valleys 


192  NORTH    AMERICA 

have  a  markedly  different  temperature  and  rainfall  from  the 
highlands. 

The  most  southern  portions  of  the  lower  austral  prov- 
ince within  the  border  of  the  United  States  has  a  semi- 
tropical  climate  and  is  characterized  by  its  high  mean  an- 
nual temperature,  abundant  rainfall,  and  uniformity  of 
weather  conditions  throughout  the  year.  The  summers 
are  hot,  but  tempered  by  winds  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  Atlantic,  and  the  winters,  although  normally  mild 
and  without  snow,  are  varied  at  intervals  by  periods  of  cold 
which  bring  occasional  frosts.  This  semitropical  division 
of  the  lower  austral  province  'embraces  a  narrow  strip  of 
coast-land  extending  from  South  Carolina  to  southeastern 
Texas,  with  the  exception  of  the  extreme  southern  end  of 
Florida,  and  forms  a  transition  between  the  hotter  and  more 
humid  tropical  province  to  the  southward  and  the  cooler 
and  less  humid  region  to  the  northward. 

As  the  saying  is,  a  tree  is  judged  by  its  fruit;  in  a  sim- 
ilar way  we  may  judge  of  the  climate  of  a  region  by  its 
products.  The  Gulf  strip  of  the  lower  austral  province 
is  the  home  of  a  number  of  plants  and  animals  not  found  far- 
ther north,  as,  for  example,  the  cabbage  palmetto  and  Cu- 
ban pine,  and  several  species  of  birds  and  small  mammals. 
Among  the  agricultural  products  of  this  narrow  coastal 
belt  which  are  suggestive  of  its  climate  are  rice,  sugar-cane, 
and  sea-island  cotton;  of  fruits  it  produces,  especially  in 
Florida,  oranges,  mandarins,  lemons,  limes,  shaddocks, 
and  pineapples. 

The  humid  portion  of  the  lower  austral  province  ex- 
tends northward  from  the  Gulf  strip,  and  presents  a  transi- 
tion in  climatic  conditions  between  the  semitropical  Gulf 
coast  and  the  more  markedly  temperate  climate  of  the 
upper  austral.  This  eastern  division  of  the  lower  austral, 
characterized  by  its  mild  winters,  general  absence  of  snow, 
long  hot  summers  with  abundant  rain,  extends  from  eastern 
Virginia  southward  about  the  southern  end  of  the  Appa- 
lachian Mountains,  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  broadens 
so  as  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River.  Its  western 
limit  is  in  central  Texas,  where  the  mean  annual  rainfall  de- 


CLIMATE  193 

creases  to  less  than  20  inches,  and  forests  give  place  to  tree- 
less, grass-covered  plains  and  plateaus. 

Through  this  eastern  portion  of  the  lower  austral  the 
mean  annual  precipitation  is  in  general  between  50  and  60 
inches,  and  is  so  distributed  throughout  the  year  that  each 
month  receives  approximately  an  equal  share.  In  general, 
however,  the  rainfall  is  greater  in  winter  than  in  summer. 
The  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  humid  portion  of  the 
lower  austral  is  from  6o°  to  68°  F.,  the  mean  winter  tem- 
perature 400  to  520,  and  the  mean  summer  temperature  from 
750  to  8o°  F.  From  these  records  it  may  be  inferred  that 
the  conditions  are  favourable  for  the  growth  of  trees.  In  its 
natural  condition  this  entire  region  was  clothed  with  a 
varied  and  beautiful  forest,  consisting  largely  of  broad- 
leaved  trees,  but  is  also  the  home  of  the  southern  pine  and 
the  cypress.  The  characteristic  crops  are  cotton  and  corn 
(maize). 

The  western  or  arid  portion  of  the  lower  austral  prov- 
ince embraces  western  Texas,  a  large  area  in  northeastern 
Mexico,  and  circling  about  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Pacific  mountains  in  central  Mexico,  extends  northward 
adjacent  to  the  tropical  border  of  the  Pacific  and  the  Gulf 
of  Lower  California,  into  Arizona  and  southern  California. 
A  detached  area  of  this  same  province  occupies  the  great 
Valley  of  California. 

The  leading  feature  in  the  climate  of  the  extensive  and 
irregular  region  just  outlined  is  its  aridity.  The  rainfall  is 
too  small  to  insure  forest  growths;  the  land  is  treeless,  ex- 
cept along  the  streams,  and  irrigation  is  necessary  for  suc- 
cessful agriculture.  With  a  sufficient  amount  of  water 
for  irrigation,  a  great  variety  of  fruits,  etc.,  may  be  raised, 
including  many  products  usually  considered  as  indicating 
tropical  conditions,  such  as  mangoes,  dates,  figs,  citrus 
fruits,  olives,  pineapples,  etc.  Not  only  are  the  agricul- 
tural products  numerous  and  varied,  but  the  yield!  per 
acre  under  the  mosl  favourable  a  mditi<  >ns  is  far  in  excess  1  >1 
the  best  results  reached  in  mosl  regions  where  rain  is  relied 
on  to  furnish  the  requisite  moisture.  Under  the  prevail- 
cloudless  skies  of  the  hoi  arid  lands  of  the  southwest- 


194  NORTH    AMERICA 

ern  portion  of  the  continent  insolation  is  intense  and  the 
growth  of  vegetation  phenomenal  when  the  necessary 
amount  of  water  is  supplied.  The  land  in  its  present  con- 
dition presents  great  contrasts,  ranging  from  desolate,  sun- 
burned tracts  which  are  almost  absolute  deserts,  to  the 
vivid  green  of  irrigated  fields  and  the  deep  shade  of  heavily 
fruit-laden  orchards. 

The  Upper  Austral  Province  (Plate  III). — The  portion 
of  North  America  embraced  in  this  climatic  province  lies 
principally  in  the  central  part  of  the  United  States,  but  in- 
cludes also  a  narrow  strip  in  southern  Ontario,  adjacent  to 
the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  a  large  irregular  area  in 
the  central  plateau  of  Mexico.  A  marked  feature  of  its 
geography  is  its  extreme  irregularity  in  the  portion  occu- 
pied by  the  Pacific  mountains  in  the  United  States  and 
Mexico.  The  reasons  for  this  lie  mainly  in  the  influence 
of  the  relief  of  the  land  on  climate,  the  direction  of  the  pre- 
vailing winds,  and  varying  distances  from  the  ocean.  It  is 
a  familiar  fact  that  boreal  and  even  arctic  climatic  conditions 
are  met  with  on  high  mountains.  The  attention  that  is 
given  to  changes  in  climate  with  increase  in  altitude  is  no 
doubt  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  mountains  present 
conditions  which  are  exceptional  and  more  or  less  novel  as 
seen  from  our  accustomed  point  of  view.  A  person  living 
in  an  elevated  region,  on  descending  into  a  deep  valley, 
would  be  impressed  with  the  reverse  order  in  which  the  cli- 
matic zones  occur.  In  making  such  a  descent  he  would 
pass  in  succession  from  a  boreal  or  perhaps  arctic  climate, 
through  a  transitional  or  cold  temperate,  to  the  warm  tem- 
perate or  upper  austral  province,  and  might  even  reach 
the  semitropical  division  of  the  lower  austral.  In  the 
Pacific  mountains  within  the  border  of  the  United  States 
the  valleys  are  sufficiently  deep  to  have  the  climatic  condi- 
tions here  ascribed  to  the  upper  austral,  and  in  the  south- 
western portion  of  the  United  States  descents  may  be  made 
— as  in  the  Great  Valley  of  California  and  in  the  arid  basins 
of  southern  Nevada,  Arizona,  etc. — sufficiently  great  to 
reach  the  lower  austral.  The  valleys  amid  the  Pacific 
mountains,  which  fall  in  the  upper  austral  province,  are  in 


CLIMATE  195 

general  low  at  the  north  in  reference  to  sea-level,  and  be- 
come higher  and  higher  at  the  south.  For  example,  the 
upper  austral  region  in  central  Washington  is  but  400  or 
500  feet  above  the  sea,  while  in  Mexico  it  lies  in  general  at 
an  altitude  of  between  4.000  and  6,000  feet. 

The  upper  austral  province  may  be  termed  warm  tem- 
perate, with  a  marked  contrast  between  the  heat  of  sum- 
mer and  the  cold  of  winter.  The  summers  are  long,  with 
an  average  temperature  of  700  or  75 °,  while  the  winters 
are  variable,  with  frequent  cold  periods  when  ice  forms  and 
snow-storms  are  not  rare.  The  snow  seldom  remains  on 
the  ground  for  more  than  a  few  days  at  a  time,  however, 
except  in  the  northeast,  where  the  warm  temperate  climatic 
conditions  of  the  province  under  review  merge  with  those  of 
the  colder  region  to  the  northward  embraced  in  the  transi- 
tion province. 

The  upper,  like  the  lower  austral,  presents  two  well- 
marked  divisions  in  reference  to  humidity — an  eastern  or 
humid  and  a  western  or  semihumid  portion;  the  dividing 
line  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian. 
In  the  eastern  division  the  mean  annual  precipitation  in  the 
Piedmont  region  to  the  east  of  the  Appalachians  and  on 
the  coastal  plain  adjacent  to  the  Atlantic  in  Maryland  and 
Xew  Jersey  is  from  40  to  80  inches,  but  decreases  west- 
ward, and  on  the  border  of  the  Great  plateaus  in  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  is  about  20  inches.  In  the  western  division  the 
annual  precipitation  is  less  than  20  inches,  and  agriculture 
without  irrigation  is  uncertain  and  usually  impossible.  To 
the  east  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian  the  rain  is  some- 
what evenly  distributed  throughout  the  year,  although  an 
increasing  dryness  of  the  summer  is  easily  detected  as  one 
travels  from  east  to  west,  but  in  the  various  upper  austral 
valleys  of  the  Pacific  mountain  region  the  precipitation  is 
mostly  during  the  winter,  and  the  summers  .are  practically 
rainless.  The  marked  difference  in  precipitation  between 
the  humid  and  semihumid  division  of  the  upper  austral 
province  is  recorded  on  the  surface  of  the  land  by  the  vege- 
tation. In  the  eastern  division  the  entire  region,  with  the 
exception  of  the  prairies  in  the  central  part  of  the  Mississippi 


196  NORTH    AMERICA 

basin,  was  originally  clothed  with  a  varied  and  beautiful 
forest,  consisting  mainly  of  broad-leaved  trees,  such  as  the 
hickory,  maple,  oak,  etc.,  while  the  semihumid  western 
division  is  treeless,  except  in  immediate  proximity  to 
streams. 

In  the  southern  portion  of  the  humid  division  of  the 
upper  austral  province  cotton  is  one  of  the  staple  products, 
but  the  northern  limit  of  the  region  in  which  it  can  be  suc- 
cessfully cultivated  is  soon  reached  as  one  travels  north- 
ward. Tobacco  is  grown  extensively  in  the  southeastern 
and  eastern  portions  of  the  province.  The  principal  crop 
of  the  great  central  area  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  corn 
(maize).  Successful  wheat  culture  begins  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  province,  but  the  conditions  favouring  its 
cultivation  increase  to  the  northward  and  it  becomes  the 
characteristic  and  most  valuable  crop  of  the  transition 
province. 

In  the  western  or  semihumid  division  of  the  upper  aus- 
tral the  variety  of  agricultural  products  that  can  be  suc- 
cessfully cultivated  with  the  aid  of  irrigation  is  greater  than 
in  its  eastern  portion,  where  irrigation  is  not  generally  prac- 
tised. The  northern  limit  at  which  tobacco,  fruits,  the  vine, 
etc.,  may  be  advantageously  cultivated  in  the  west  is  greater 
than  in  the  east.  For  example,  in  the  east  the  northern 
limit  at  which  tobacco  is  raised  on  a  commercial  scale  is  in 
Connecticut,  while  in  the  west  it  reaches  a  large  size  and 
excellent  quality  in  central  Washington.  Various  fruits, 
such  as  the  peach,  pear,  plum,  grape,  etc.,  have  their  north- 
ern limit  of  successful  cultivation  in  the  east  in  western 
New  York,  southern  Ontario,  and  southern  Michigan,  a 
region  favourably  influenced  in  this  connection  by  the 
proximity  of  the  Great  Lakes;  in  the  west  these  same 
fruits  reach  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  and  are  produced 
in  great  abundance,  with  the  aid  of  irrigation,  in  north- 
central  Washington,  fully  5  degrees  of  latitude  farther 
northward. 

On  the  whole,  the  upper  austral  province  may  be  said 
to  have  a  warm  temperate  climate,  in  which  the  summer 
season  is  longer  and  more  pronounced  in  its  characteristics 


CLIMATE  197 

than  the  winter  season.  It  presents  sufficient  seasonal 
variations,  however,  to  favour  in  a  high  degree  both  the 
physical  and  intellectual  development  of  man. 

The  Transition  Province  (Plate  III). — This,  the  transi- 
tion region  between  the  austral  and  boreal  provinces,  in- 
cludes the  cool  temperate  portions  of  North  America.  Like 
the  austral  provinces,  its  outlines  are  irregular,  and  in  places 
it  occupies  detached  or  island-like  areas,  on  account  of  the 
influence  of  mountains  on  climatic  conditions.  Its  largest 
continuous  area  is  situated  along  the  northern  border  of  the 
United  States,  but  includes  the  southern  portions  of  Assin- 
iboia,  Ontario,  and  Quebec,  and  extends  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  From  this  main  belt  there  is  a 
marked  extension  southward  along  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains, which  carries  a  cool  temperate  climate  into  northern 
Georgia,  and  another  and  much  greater  southward  exten- 
sion along  the  Pacific  mountains,  which  reaches  central 
Mexico.  In  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States  and 
adjacent  parts  of  Canada,  the  region  under  consideration 
has,  in  general,  an  elevation  of  1,000  feet  or  even  less  above 
the  sea,  but  it  rises  when  followed  southward  along  the 
mountains,  and  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  United 
States  and  on  the  table-land  of  central  Mexico  attains  an 
elevation  of  some  8,000  or  9.000  feet.  On  the  higher  por- 
tions of  the  mountains  of  Central  America  and  the  West 
Indies  the  climatic  conditions  are  similar  to  those  of  the 
regions  farther  north  here  included  in  the  transition  cli- 
matic province,  but  these  isolated  areas  are  not  sufficiently 
well  known  to  be  indicated  on  the  accompanying  map. 

The  mean  annual  temperature  of  the  transition  prov- 
ince is  lower  than  that  of  the  upper  austral,  and,  although 
a  precise  average  is  not  at  present  attainable,  may  be  taken 
at  about  450  F.  The  winters  are  long  and  cold,  especially 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States  and  adjacent  por- 
tions of  Canada,  the  mean  temperature  being  approxi- 
mately 20°  or  25°.  but  sudden  and  great  variations  are 
not  uncommon.  At  times,  and  frequently  for  continuous 
eral  days,  the  temperature  falls  t<>  20    or  more 

below  zero  of  the    Fahrenheit    scale,   then   again   rises  above 
14 


198  NORTH    AMERICA 

freezing,  and  the  frozen  soil  thaws  and  possibly  becomes 
entirely  freed  from  ice. 

In  common  with  the  austral  provinces,  the  one  under 
consideration  is  divided  into  two  portions,  an  eastern  and  a 
western,  in  reference  to  precipitation,  the  dividing  line 
being  a  little  to  the  eastward  of  the  one  hundredth  meridian. 
While  the  western  portion  of  the  province  is  characterized 
by  its  small  rainfall,  precipitation  is  greater,  mainly  on  ac- 
count of  greater  elevation,  than  in  the  adjacent  portions 
of  the  austral  provinces,  and  in  Oregon  and  Washington 
there  is  a  markedly  humid  area. 

Snow  falls  throughout  the  entire  transition  province,  at 
least  during  exceptional  winters,  and  in  general  during 
every  winter.  There  is  great  variation  in  the  depth  of  the 
snow  from  winter  to  winter,  and  also  with  geographical 
position.  It  is  greatest  in  the  northeast — that  is,  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  westward  to  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota — and 
least  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Pacific  mountains.  Over  the  northeastern  portion  of  the 
province  the  snow  frequently  whitens  the  ground  for  weeks, 
and  even  for  two  or  three  months  continuously.  A  deep  ac- 
cumulation which  remains  for  a  long  time  unmelted  is  wel- 
come, as  it  protects  the  roots  of  plants  from  sudden  changes 
of  temperature  and  prevents  alternate  freezing  and  thawing 
of  their  sap,  which  is  injurious  to  their  tissues  in  numerous 
instances.  Great  variation  in  the  amount  of  snow  that  falls 
annually  in  a  given  locality  is  of  common  occurrence.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  yearly  accumulation  frequently  oc- 
curs during  one  or  two  great  storms.  For  example,  in 
January  and  February,  1898,  there  were  two  severe  storms, 
accompanied  by  an  unusual  depth  of  snow,  the  first  being 
most  pronounced  over  New  England,  and  the  second  in 
the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Other  storms  increased  the 
amount  of  snow  so  that  at  the  beginning  of  March  the  aver- 
age depth  in  Maine  was  40  to  70  inches,  in  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont  10  to  40  inches,  and  in  Massachusetts  10  to 
20  inches,  while  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  the  general 
depth  on  level  ground  was  1  to  2  feet,  with  many  drifts  10 
to  15  feet  deep. 


u 


CLIMATE  199 

The  winter  in  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  transition 
province  may  be  said  to  be  the  most  characteristic  feature 
of  the  climate,  as  it  is  the  one  that  is  most  pronounced  and 
exceptional,  when  a  comparison  is  made  with  other  thickly- 
peopled  portions  of  the  continent.  The  period  of  cold  and 
snow  each  year  is  long,  extending  in  general  from  Novem- 
ber to  March",  and  the  coming  of  the  flowers  and  birds  in 
spring  is  frequently  much  delayed.  The  long  cold  winters 
have  a  decided  influence  on  plant  and  animal  life,  and  in  a 
marked  way  modify  the  lives  of  men.  In  the  northeastern 
portion  of  the  United  States  and  adjacent  provinces  of 
Canada  various  forms  of  sleighs  are  extensively  used  during 
the  winters,  and  skating  on  the  frozen  lakes  and  streams  and 
excursions  on  snow-shoes  over  the  fields  and  through  the 
forests  are  a  popular  and  healthful  exercise,  while  coasting 
and  tobogganing — or  to  explain  these  terms  to  people  liv- 
ing in  regions  where  snow  does  not  fall,  the  sliding  down 
steep  snow-  or  ice-covered  slopes  on  sleds  or  flat-bottomed 
toboggans — are  highly  enjoyable  sports  indulged  in  by 
children  and  grown  people  alike.  In  certain  cities,  notably 
Montreal  and  Quebec,  what  are  termed  ice  palaces  (Fig.  25) 
are  built  of  blocks  of  ice  and  are  utilized  for  winter  car- 
nivals. 

The  summers  throughout  the  transition  province  are 
hot,  with  little  rain  in  the  western  portion,  but  refreshing 
showers  and  occasional  destructive  storms  in  the  humid 
eastern  portion.  Owing  to  the  latitude  of  the  main  trans- 
continental belt  of  the  province,  the  number  of  hours  of 
sunlight  each  day  in  summer  is  increased  beyond  what  it  is 
in  the  main  portions  of  the  austral  provinces,  thus  favouring 
the  growth  of  vegetation.  There  is  also  a  lengthening  of 
the  morning  and  evening  duration  of  twilight,  and  magnifi- 
cent sunrises  and  sunsets  are  frequent.  The  mean  summer 
temperature  is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  700  F.,  bul  hot 
spells,  lasting  for  days,  and  even  weeks,  are  of  common  oc- 
currence. During  these  trying  and  frequently  unhealthy 
intervals  the  temperature  in  the  shade  readies  or  even  ex- 
ceeds ioo°  F.,  and  sunstrokes  or  prostrations  by  reason  of 
the  heat,  particularly  in  the  cities,  are  numerous.      The  four 


200  NORTH    AMERICA 

seasons  of  the  year  are  better  marked  and  have  more  pro- 
nounced characteristics  in  this  division  of  the  continent  than 
in  any  other,  and  it  is  the  region  of  greatest  seasonal  cli- 
matic changes  as  well  as  of  marked  weekly  and  even  daily 
variations  in  weather  conditions.  The  most  delightful 
months  to  most  people  are  May,  when  the  returning  mi- 
gratory birds  are  nesting,  the  trees  unfolding  their  many 
tinted  leaves,  and  the  air  laden  with  the  perfume  of  multi- 
tudes of  blossoms,  and  October,  when  the  rich  colours  of 
ripened  leaves  give  to  the  forests  a  marvellous  variety  and 
brilliancy  of  colour  and  the  tranquil,  hazy  atmosphere  is 
undisturbed  by  storms  for  days  and  even  weeks  together. 
This  annual  period  of  tranquil  weather,  extending  fre- 
quently far  into  November,  is  known  as  Indian  summer. 

In  the  northern  portion  of  the  transition  province  the 
broad-leaved,  deciduous  trees  of  the  central  and  eastern 
portions  of  the  United  States  reach  their  northern  limit, 
and  become  mingled  with  a  southward  extension  of  the 
conifers  which  form  the  major  portion  of  the  forest  of  Can- 
ada. A  similar  but  less  marked  change  occurs  among  the 
Pacific  mountains,  where  the  scattered  growths  of  oaks, 
pirion  pines,  sycamores,  etc.,  of  the  lower  mountain  slopes 
and  stream  sides  mingle  with  the  spruces  and  yellow  and 
white  pines  of  the  more  elevated  region,  where  the  climate  is 
similar  to  that  of  central  Canada.  As  remarked  by  Merriam, 
the  province  as  a  whole  is  characterized  by  comparatively 
few  distinctive  animals  or  plants,  but  rather  by  the  occur- 
rence together  of  southern  species  which  there  find  their 
northern  limit  and  northern  species  which  there  reach  their 
southern  limit.  It  embraces  the  northern  portion  of  the 
truly  agricultural  lands  of  the  continent.  The  plants  of 
economic  importance  which  there  reach  their  highest  stage 
of  perfection  are  wheat,  oats,  and  other  cereals,  the  sugar- 
beet,  numerous  vegetables,  the  white  potato,  apples  in  great 
variety  and  abundance,  cherries,  plums,  grapes,  etc.  It  is  the 
northern  limit  of  corn,  and  includes  nearly  the  entire  area 
in  which  maple-sugar  is  produced.  In  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  province  several  varieties  of  native  nuts,  such  as  the 
beechnut,  butternut,  chestnut,  hazelnut,  hickory-nut,  wal- 


CLIMATE  201 

nut,  etc.,  grow  wild  and  in  great  abundance;  but  nut-bearing 
hardwood  trees  are  also  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  for- 
ests of  the  humid  portion  of  the  austral  provinces. 

In  the  western  division  of  the  province  a  humid  area — 
embracing  western  Washington  and  Oregon,  part  of  north- 
ern California,  including  the  Coast  Range  of  the  same 
States — presents  a  marked  contrast  to  the  more  widely  ex- 
tended and  excessively  irregular  arid  portion  which  sur- 
rounds the  higher  mountains  and  is  for  the  most  part  re- 
mote from  the  ocean.  Both  the  humid  and  arid  divisions 
of  the  western  part  of  the  province  are  alike  favourable  for 
agriculture,  as  is  shown  by  the  vast  and  highly  productive 
wheat-fields  of  the  semihumid  eastern  portion  of  the  States 
just  named  and  the  productive  hop  lands,  orchards,  and 
vineyards  of  their  humid  western  portions. 

The  climate  of  a  great  land  area  not  only  finds  expres- 
sion in  its  fauna  and  flora,  but  in  the  industries  and  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  its  people.  While  it  is  difficult  to 
translate  man's  physical  and  intellectual  development  into 
terms  of  climate,  it  is  evident  that  the  transition  province 
favours  both  bodily  and  mental  activity  more  than  any  of 
the  other  climatic  provinces  into  which  North  Amer- 
ica is  here  divided.  Although  the  boundary  between  the 
upper  austral  and  the  transition  provinces  is  indefinite,  it 
is  easily  to  be  seen,  from  the  geographical  distribution  of 
cities,  agricultural  population,  manufactories,  colleges,  and 
other  institutions  of  learning,  etc.,  that  the  climate  of  the 
province  under  review  is  on  the  whole  the  one  in  which  the 
greatest  intellectual  advance  has  been  made  and  the  one 
which  holds  out  the  greatest  promise  for  the  future. 

The  Boreal  Province  (Plate  III).— This  climatic  division 
of  North  America  extends  in  a  broad  belt  diagonally  across 
the  continent  from  the  eastern  portion  of  Labrador  nearly 
to  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea,  and  is  represented  by  detached 
areas  in  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  mountain-  tar  be- 
yond its  general  southern  limit,  tts  northern  border,  in 
the  Continental  basin,  is  marked  by  the  cessation  of  forests, 
and  on  the  mountains  to  the  southward  its  upper  limit  co- 
incides with  the  timber-line.      It-  leading  climatic  features 


202  NORTH    AMERICA 

are  its  low  mean  annual  temperature — in  general  from  320 
to  40°  F. — its  long,  cold  winters,  and  short,  hot  summers. 
The  differences  in  mean  annual  precipitation  in  various 
parts  of  the  province  are  less  marked  than  in  the  several 
provinces  previously  noticed,  but  in  the  far  north  a  cold 
arid  division  should  be  recognised.  Although  but  few  direct 
measures  of  precipitation  are  available  for  comparison,  our 
general  knowledge  of  the  great  boreal  province  and  the 
character  of  its  vegetation  indicate  that  there  is  a  decrease 
in  precipitation  from  both  the  eastern  and  western  borders 
of  the  continent  towards  the  interior,  and  also  from  its  cen- 
tral portion  both  northward  and  southward.  The  heaviest 
precipitation  is  on  the  Pacific  coast,  from  California  north- 
ward to  southern.  Alaska,  and  the  lightest  precipitation  is 
probably  in  the  central  Continental  basin,  near  the  northern 
limit  of  the  province.  Precipitation  on  the  Pacific  coast  at 
low  elevations  is  almost  entirely  in  the  form  of  rain,  but  on 
the  mountains  there  is  in  winter  deep  snow  which  remains 
for  a  number  of  months  unmelted.  Throughout  the  portion 
of  the  province  included  in  Canada  and  Alaska  the  snow- 
fall is  abundant,  but  heaviest  towards  the  Atlantic  coast. 
Along  the  northern  margin  of  the  province,  as  indicated  by 
observations  at  a  small  number  of  stations,  not  only  is  the 
mean  annual  precipitation  light,  probably  under  20  inches, 
but  the  winter  snow  is  not  deep,  although  it  remains  on  the 
ground  continuously  for  five  or  six  months.  In  the  main 
or  northern  portion  of  the  boreal  province,  owing  to  the 
comparatively  high  latitude,  the  variation  in  the  number  of 
hours  of  light  and  darkness  each  day  during  a  year  becomes 
conspicuous.  In  summer  the  sun  is  above  the  horizon 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  hours  each  day,  and  in  win- 
ter the  hours  of  darkness  are  correspondingly  increased. 
The  year  is  divided  into  but  two  seasons,  summer  and  win- 
ter, the  distinctive  features  of  spring  and  fall,  so  well  marked 
in  the  upper  austral  and  transition  provinces,  disappear- 
ing. On  account  of  the  low  mean  annual  temperature,  and 
especially  because  of  the  shortness  of  the  growing  season, 
agriculture  is  of  small  importance.  Along  its  southern 
border,  more  especially  in  southeastern  Canada  and  New- 


CLIMATE  203 

foundland,  such  small  fruits  as  currants,  huckleberries,  rasp- 
berries, blackberries,  cranberries,  etc.,  grow  wild  and  yield 
abundant  returns  when  cultivated.  In  favoured  localities 
white  potatoes,  turnips,  beets,  and  certain  varieties  of  the 
apple,  as  well  as  the  more  hardy  cereals,  are  cultivated  with 
moderate  successs. 

The  Arctic  Province  (Plate  III)  comprises  the  cold,  tree- 
less plains  sloping  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the  summits  of 
the  higher  mountains  at  the  south  which  rise  above  the 
transition  province.  The  one  controlling  climatic  feature 
is  the  low  temperature,  the  mean  for  each  year  being 
320  F.  or  lower.  The  winters  are  longer  and  more  severe 
than  in  the  boreal  province,  and  the  summers  short  and  hot. 
Insolation,  on  account  of  the  length  of  the  days  in  summer 
of  the  main  area  of  the  province  and  the  free  exposure  on 
the  mountain  summits  to  the  southward,  is  intense,  but  its 
beneficial  effect  on  vegetation  is  largely  counterbalanced  by 
the  influence  of  the  lingering  snow  and  ice.  In  the  moun- 
tainous regions  of  North  America  the  arctic  province  is  the 
birthplace  of  numerous  glaciers.  Although  destitute  of 
trees,  the  arctic,  or  arctic-alpine  province,  as  it  may  be 
termed,  is  rendered  glorious  in  numberless  localities  by  the 
profusion  and  brilliancy  of  its  flowering  annuals. 

SECONDARY    DISTURBANCES    OF    THE    ATMOSPHERE 

In  the  broad,  general  movements  of  the  atmosphere 
over  North  America  embraced  in  what  are  termed  the  plan- 
etary and  continental  winds  there  are  many  disturbances 
due  to  more  or  less  local  changes  in  conditions,  the  most 
conspicuous  of  which  are  whirlwinds,  chinook  winds,  thun- 
der-storms, tornadoes,  cyclones,  and  hurricanes.  While 
some  of  these  disturbances  are  local,  as  the  whirlwind  and 
tornadoes,  and  may  not  extend  beyond  the  boundaries  oi 
the  particular  climatic  provinces  where  they  originate, 
others,  as  the  cyclones  and  hurricanes,  may  affect  the  cli- 
mate of  several  provinces. 

Whirlwind. — A  conspicuous,  although  minor  feature 
in  the  atmospheric  phenomena  of  the  hot,  dry   plains  and 


204  NORTH    AMERICA 

valleys,  especially  of  the  Mexican  plateau  and  the  Great 
Basin,  and  less  markedly  of  the  Great  plateau  to  the  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  the  occurrence  of  small  whirl- 
winds which  carry  dust  and  light  objects  into  the  air  in 
spiral  columns  that  are  not  infrequently  2,000  or  3.000  feet 
high,  and  have  a  diameter  of  perhaps  50  to  100  feet.  These 
small  whirls  of  the  air,  in  which  some  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  the  intensely  active  tornadoes  and  widely  de- 
structive tropical  hurricanes  can  be  studied  on  a  small  scale, 
occur  most  commonly  during  hot  summer  afternoons,  when 
from  a  commanding  station  half  a  dozen  or  more  swaying 
columns  may  be  seen  moving  in  various  directions  over  the 
parched  valleys  and  sun-scorched  plains.  These  columns 
not  only  move  in  various  directions,  showing  that  they 
are  not  due  to  the  same  immediate  cause,  but  have  differ- 
ent internal  motions,  some  whirling  from  right  to  left,  and 
others  in  the  opposite  direction. 

The  generally  accepted  explanation  of  these  small  whirl- 
winds is  that  the  air  over  the  surface  of  the  deserts,  which 
are  frequently  almost  bare  of  vegetation  and  perhaps  white 
with  saline  incrustations,  becomes  locally  highly  heated, 
especially  when  there  is  little  or  no  wind,  and  is  forced  up- 
ward by  the  inflow  of  the  surrounding  cooler  and  heavier  air. 
The  inflowing  currents  have  different  velocities,  and  on 
meeting  the  strongest  one  gives  a  rotary  or  spiral  motion 
to  the  ascending  column,  which  acts  like  a  chimney  in  al- 
lowing the  escape  upward  of  the  hot  air  from  below.  A 
central  vertical  line  frequently  seen  in  the  dust  columns 
shows  that  a  core  of  comparatively  still  air  is  present,  about 
which  the  dust-charged  air  rises  in  a  spiral  course.  If  the 
conditions  just  outlined  should  be  greatly  increased  in  mag- 
nitude some  of  the  leading  features  of  tornadoes  and  even  of 
hurricanes  would  be  produced.  In  short,  all  of  the  winds 
cited  above,  except  the  chinook,  are  concentric,  swirling 
movements  in  ascending  air,  due  primarily  to  a  local 
increase  in  temperature  at  the  lower  portion  of  the  atmos- 
phere. 

Chinook  Winds. — On  the  Great  plateaus  adjacent  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  similar  situations  to  the  eastward 


CLIMATE  205 

of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains,  warm,  drying- 
winds  frequently  occur,  especially  in  winter,  when  they  bring 
a  balminess  as  of  spring.  The  remarkable  feature  of  these 
interesting  winds  is  that  they  come  from  the  snow-clad 
mountains,  but  are  warm  and  dry  in  contrast  with  the  pre- 
ceding condition  of  the  air  on  the  plains.  The  capacity  of 
the  air  brought  by  these  winds  for  moisture  is  so  great  that 
evaporation  is  active,  and  the  snow  in  the  valleys  and  over 
the  broad  plains  disappears  without  visible  melting.  The 
change  in  the  previously  winter  aspect  of  a  region  within 
the  influence  of  these  chinook  winds,  as  they  are  termed,  is 
truly  surprising,  and  to  their  influence  is  due  to  a  marked 
extent  the  value  of  the  Great  plateaus  as  stock-ranges,  for 
the  reason  that  the  snow  is  removed  from  them  so  as  to  allow 
cattle  to  feed  on  the  naturally  dried  "grasses. 

The  chinook  winds  are  the  counterpart  of  the  foclm 
winds  of  Switzerland,  and  are  explained  on  the  principle 
that  descending  air  is  made  more  dense  by  the  increased 
pressure  to  which  it  is  subjected,  and  its  temperature  cor- 
respondingly raised,  its  capacity  for  moisture  being  at  the 
same  time  increased  on  account  of  its  rise  in  temperature. 
The  apparent  anomaly  of  a  warm,  dry  wind  blowing  from  a 
snow-clad  mountain  range  is  no  longer  a  mystery,  if  we 
consider  that  the  air  is  drawn  over  the  mountains  towards 
a  centre  of  low  barometrical  pressure  owing  to  the  wide- 
reaching  influence  of  a  cyclonic  storm  or  other  large  at- 
mospheric movement.  The  air  as  it  rises  in  order  to  cross 
a  mountain  is  cooled,  largely  on  account  of  relief  of  pres- 
sure, and  parts  with  a  portion,  possibly  a  large  portion,  of 
its  moisture,  which  condenses  on  the  mountain  commonly 
as  snow;  on  passing  the  mountain  the  air  descends  and  is 
warmed  by  compression,  and  having  less  moisture  than 
before,  becomes  a  drying  wind,  which  produces  the  Mid- 
den and  surprising  change^  on  the  plains  and  valleys  to  the 
leeward. 

The  chinook  winds  of  the  western  portion  of  (ana. la 
and  the  United  States  occur  principally  to  the  eastward  of 
high  mountains,  for  the  reason  thai  the  prevailing  air-cur- 
rents of  that  region  arc  from  the  west. 


206  NORTH    AMERICA 

Thunder-Storms. — In  the  eastern  portion  of  the  United 
States  and  adjacent  parts  of  Canada  during  the  summer  sea- 
son the  heating  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  atmosphere, 
especially  on  still,  sultry  afternoons,  causes  ascending  cur- 
rents of  warm,  moist  air,  which  become  cooled  as  they  rise, 
and  give  origin  to  vast  masses  of  cumulus  clouds.  These 
magnificent  "  thunder-heads,"  as  they  are  sometimes 
termed,  illuminated  by  the  full  sunlight  are  most  magnifi- 
cent, and  usually  herald  the  coming  of  heavy  showers,  ac- 
companied by  frequently  destructive  lightning  and  heavy 
thunder.  The  bases  of  the  clouds  when  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance are  usually  horizontal  and  may  have  curtain-like  fes- 
toons beneath,  due  to  falling  rain;  while  aloft  the  white 
vapour  boils  upward  in  fleece-like  masses,  revealing  a 
strong  convectional  ascent  of  moist  air.  The  immediate 
cause  of  a  thunder-storm  is  the  rapid  ascent  of  a  column  of 
warm  moist  air,  which  becomes  cooled  as  it  rises  and  the 
moisture  contained  in  it  condensed.  The  cause  of  the 
ascent  of  the  air  column,  at  least  over  plains  and  plateaus, 
is  the  heating  of  the  air  in  contact  with  the  earth.  A  layer 
of  warm,  and  consequently  light,  air  beneath  a  layer  of 
cooler  and  heavier  air  furnishes  unstable  conditions  which 
favour  an  overturning  and  an  escape  upward  of  the  lighter 
air,  which  is  forced  to  ascend  much  as  the  hot  air  in  a  chim- 
ney is  made  to  flow  upward  by  the  pressure  of  cooler  and 
heavier  air  around.  The  conditions  preceding  a  thunder- 
storm are  a  stagnant  atmosphere  over  a  broad  region  where 
the  lower  layer  of  hot  air  is  also  charged  with  moisture. 
These  conditions  are  frequently  fulfilled  on  the  plains  of 
the  Atlantic  slope  and  southeastern  portion  of  the  conti- 
nental basin  in  summer  when  warm  moist  air  is  drawn  in 
from  the  Gulf  region  towards  the  centre  of  an  area  of  low 
atmospheric  pressure,  and  thunder-storms  are  there  a  char- 
acteristic feature.  The  storms  usually  advance  northeast- 
ward, the  direction  being  determined  by  the  flow  of  upper 
air-currents,  and  move  over  the  country  with  a  breadth  of 
from  10  to  perhaps  ioo  miles,  and  send  down  copious  sup- 
plies of  refreshing  rain. 

Over  the  Great  plateaus  the  air  near  the  earth's  surface 


CLIMATE  207 

is  highlv  heated  during  the  summer  season,  but  it  is  defi- 
cient in  moisture,  and  thunder-storms  are  rare,  except  for  a 
brief  period  in  late  summer  or  fall  when  the  normal  condi- 
tions are  disturbed. 

Thunder-storms  are  almost  unknown  in  the  great 
Canadian-Alaska  province  and  along  the  cool  and  humid 
northwest  coast.  They  are  also  of  rare  occurrence  in  the 
hot  and  dry  atmosphere  of  the  Great  Basin  and  Mexican 
plateau,  but  when  they  do  come  are  of  marked  intensity, 
and  pass  under  the  name  of  "  cloudbursts."  At  the  far 
south,  in  the  region  brought  under  the  influence  of  the 
equatorial  belt  of  calm,  thunder-storms  are  frequent  and  of 
great  intensity. 

An  upward  ascent  of  warm  moist  air,  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  described  above,  occurs  about  isolated  moun- 
tains, particularly  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  chain,  and  summer  thunder-storms  are  there  of 
frequent  occurrence,  especially  in  the  afternoon,  about  the 
higher  mountain-peaks,  while  the  adjacent  valleys  are 
flooded  with  sunlight.  Reference  to  this  most  striking  phe- 
nomenon has  already  been  made  in  describing  the  Park 
Mountain. 

Tornadoes. — The  fierce  circular  whirls  in  the  air  pro- 
ducing pendent,  spirally  twisting  clouds,  which  when  they 
touch  the  earth  are  of  such  intensity  as  to  sweep  away 
houses,  trees,  and  nearly  everything  in  their  paths,  are 
known  to  meteorologists  as  tornadoes,  although  popularly, 
but  erroneously,  termed  cyclones.  Storms  of  this  charac- 
ter are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  United  States  to  the 
east  of  the  Great  plateau,  and  are  most  numerous  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  Their  path  of  destruction  is  seldom  over 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  as  a  rule  they  progress  towards  the 
northeast,  in  obedience  to  the  movement  of  the  Upper  air- 
current-,  at  a  rate  of  from  20  to  40  miles  an  hour,  and  may 
cut  a  swath  from  a  few  miles  to  20  or  more  miles  long 
through  forests,  farms,  villages,  and  towns.  They  occur 
usually  in  the  afternoon,  and  sometimes  in  the  earlier  hours 
of  the  night,  of  warm,  sultry  days,  especially  in  spring  and 
early  summer,  but  arc  not  strictly  confined  to  that  portion 


V 


208  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  the  vear.  The  conditions  which  precede  the  coming  of  a 
tornado  are,  in  general,  the  same  as  those  in  advance  of  a 
thunder-storm — that  is,  an  indraft  of  hot,  moist  air  beneath 
a  cooler  layer,  thus  establishing  unstable  conditions.  An 
upward  draft  is  started,  the  intensity  of  which  becomes  so 
great  that  the  inflowing  winds  are  given  a  rapid  spiral  mo- 
tion about  a  calm  centre.  The  tornado  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a  fully  developed  or  exceptionally  energetic  thun- 
der-storm, in  which  a  spiral  movement  is  established  as  in 
desert  whirlwinds.  The  conditions  for  the  origin  of  this 
class  of  dreaded  and  locally  most  destructive  storms  are 
best  fulfilled  in  the  central  portion  of  the  Mississippi  basin, 
where  they  are  somewhat  frequent.  They  occur  less  com- 
monly over  the  country  to  the  eastward,  and  are  unknown 
in  the  more  northern  and  western  climatic  provinces,  and, 
so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  they  have  not  been  reported 
from  the  region  to  the  north  of  the  United  States. 

Cyclones. — This  name  is  applied  to  the  great  atmos- 
pheric disturbances  marked  by  an  inflowing  of  air  towards 
a  centre  of  low  barometric  pressure  from  adjacent  regions, 
commonly  several  hundred  miles  across,  and  an  escape  and 
overflow  aloft.  As  in  whirlwinds  and  tornadoes,  there  is  a 
spiral  movement  established  in  the  inflowing  currents,  but 
owing  to  the  large  size  of  the  area  of  low  pressure,  this  sel- 
dom reaches  destructive  violence.  Cyclonic  storms  are  of 
common  occurrence,  especially  in  the  temperate  zone,  and 
bring  to  that  region  its  characteristic  diversity  of  weather. 
Most  of  the  rain  and  snow  storms  of  the  continent  are  due 
to  the  vast  swirls  of  the  atmosphere  about  areas  of  low 
atmospheric  pressure,  which  cause  air-currents  from  differ- 
ent directions  and  with  different  components  of  heat  and 
moisture  to  move  over  the  land. 

The  cyclonic  storm  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  At- 
lantic coast  States,  and  southeastern  Canada  frequently 
originate  in  the  Great  plateau  province,  and  are  carried 
towards  the  Atlantic  owing  to  the  influence  of  the  eastward- 
blowing  winds  of  the  upper  atmosphere.  At  times  these 
storms  are  of  such  magnitude  and  intensity  that  they  cross 
the  Atlantic  and  are  observed  in  England  and  Scandinavia. 


CLIMATE  209 

The  courses  they  follow  may  be  traced  from  day  to  day  on 
the  weather-maps  issued  by  the  United  States  Weather  Bu- 
reau, and  from  the  directions  they  are  likely  to  follow  and 
the  atmospheric  conditions  pertaining  to  their  various  parts 
predictions  of  surprising  accuracy  as  to  the  changes  which 
the  weather  in  a  given  locality  will  experience  can  be  made 
one  or  two  days  before  the  changes  occur. 

Hurricanes. — Cyclonic  storms  of  the  general  nature  of 
the  tornadoes,  but  of  vastly  greater  extent  and  intensity, 
originate  occasionally  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  sum- 
mer season  over  the  tropical  portion  of  the  north  Atlantic, 
move  slowly  westward  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Lesser  Antilles, 
where  normally  their  courses  bend  northward,  and  then 
skirt  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  and  drift  east- 
ward under  the  influence  of  the  eastward-flowing  upper  air- 
currents,  and  not  infrequently  make  their  influence  felt  in 
the  western  portion  of  Europe.  Occasionally,  on  account 
of  the  presence  of  an  area  of  high  barometric  pressure  to 
the  north  of  Cuba,  the  course  of  one  of  these  tropical  hurri- 
canes, as  they  are  termed,  is  rendered  irregular,  and  it 
passes  over  the  Atlantic  States  or  is  deflected  still  more  and 
crosses  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  before  reaching  the  border  of 
the  continent,  as  was  the  case  in  September,  1900,  when  a 
large  part  of  Galveston  was  destroyed.  The  normal  paths 
of  the  tropical  hurricanes  as  they  approach  the  coast  of  the 
L'nited  States  and  the  exceptional  course  of  the  one  which 
passed  over  Galveston,  are  indicated  on  the  map  forming 
Fig.  26. 

The  analogy  of  a  tropical  hurricane  to  a  tornado  has 
already  been  referred  to,  but  while  a  tornado  may  lay 
waste  a  tract  of  country  perhaps  half  a  mile  wide,  and  in  ex- 
ceptional cases  20  to  30  miles  in  length,  a  hurricane  i-  from 
200  to  300  miles  in  diameter,  and  may  continue  to  be  de- 
structive, on  account  of  the  rapid  inflow  of  air  from  the 
periphery  towards  the  centre,  for  2,000  or  3,000  miles. 
The  velocity  of  the  spirally  blowing  winds  which  are  the 
characteristic  feature  of  these  greal  -tonus  is  frequently 
100  miles  or  more-  per  hour.  In  spite  of  their  magnitude, 
however,  the  conditions  leading  to  their  origin  and  gr< iwth 


2IO 


NORTH    AMERICA 


are  essentially  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  tornadoes,  and 
even  of  the  much  smaller  whirlwinds.  They  have  their 
birth  where  the  moist,  still  air  above  the  ocean  in  the  region 
of  the  doldrums  at  the  season  when  the  equatorial  belt  of 


Fig.  26. — Tracks  of  West  Indian  hurricanes.  The  circles  on  the  tracks 
indicate  the  position  of  the  storm  centres  at  Greenwich  mean  noon 
on  successive  days.     The  date  of  the  several  storms  is  as  follows  : 


1.  Aug.  27-Sept.  1,  1890. 

2.  Aug.  19-Aug.  25,   1890. 

3.  Aug.  19-Aug.  31,  1891. 

4.  Sept.  4-Sept.   9,   1891. 

5.  Sept.  16-Sept.  25,  1891. 

6.  Sept.  28-Oct.  7,  1891. 

7.  Aug.   17-Aug.  22,  1892. 

8.  Aug.  15-Aug.  22,  1893. 

9.  Aug.  23-Aug.  28,  1893. 

10.  Sept.  6-Sept.  9,  1894. 

11.  Sept.  20-Oct.  4,  1894. 

12.  Oct.  5-Oct.  10,  1894. 

13.  Oct.  12-Oct.   18,  1804. 


14.  Oct.  24-Oct.  27,  1894. 

15.  Oct.  18-Oct.  25,  1895. 

16.  Sept.  5-Sept.  10,  1896. 

17.  Sept.  g-Sept.  25,  1896. 

18.  Sept.  26-Sept.  29,  1896 

19.  Oct.  9-Oct.  14,  1896. 

20.  Oct.  23-Oct.  26,  1897. 

21.  Oct.  20-Oct.  23,  1897. 

22.  Sept.   11-Sept.  20,  1898 

23.  Aug.  3-Aug.  25,  1899. 

24.  Aug.  30-Sept.  7,  1899. 

25.  Sept.  8-Sept.   14,  1899. 

26.  Sept.   i-Sept.   ii,  1900. 


calms  is  farthest  north,  becomes  highly  heated  and  rises  on 
account  of  the  pressing  in  of  cooler  and  heavier  air  from 
adjacent  regions.     The  ascending  column  is  at  first  carried 


CLIMATE  2  1 1 

slowly  westward,  in  obedience  to  the  general  flow  of  the 
atmosphere  in  the  intertropical  belt,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  currents  coming  in  from  opposite  directions  give  the 
ascending  air  a  rotary  motion.  As  the  currents  from  the 
northeast  are  stronger  than  those  from  other  directions,  this 
whirling  motion  is  from  right  to  left,  or  opposite  to  the 
movement  of  the  hands  of  a  watch.  The  whirling  air  col- 
umn extends  into  the  upper  atmosphere,  and  as  it  moves 
along  past  the  West  Indies  becomes  influenced  by  the  prev- 
alent flow  of  the  upper  air-currents,  and  is  carried  north- 
westward, and  later  eastward  in  a  path  which  approxi- 
mates to  a  parabolic  curve.  The  inward-rushing  spiral 
winds  leave  a  calm  centre,  the  "  eye  of  the  storm,"  which 
corresponds  to  the  hollow  core  of  a  whirlwind  and  the  calm 
centre  sometimes  noted  in  tornadoes.  The  upward  ascent 
of  warm,  humid  air  is  accompanied  by  a  decrease  of  pres- 
sure and  consequent  expansion  and  cooling  which  leads 
to  rapid  condensation  and  a  heavy  downpour  of  rain;  the 
change  of  the  moisture  from  a  vaporous  to  a  liquid  form 
liberates  heat,  which  serves  to  perpetuate  the  upward  flow 
of  air,  and  thus  prolongs  the  life  of  the  storm.  During 
the  passage  of  the  central  area  of  low  barometric  pressure 
over  a  given  locality  the  clouds  frequently  part  and  por- 
tions of  the  clear  sky  may  be  seen.  Accompanying  the 
rain  are  frequent  lightning  flashes,  as  during  ordinary 
thunder-storms. 

The  tropical  hurricanes  are  the  most  violent  and  most 
dreaded  of  all  the  storms  that  sweep  over  any  portion  of  our 
continent,  but  fortunately  for  dwellers  on  the  land,  arc  con 
fined  for  the  most  part  to  the  sea,  since  the  atmospheric 
conditions  over  the  land  lead  to  their  loss  of  energy,  al- 
though in  rare  instances  they  may  be  re-enforced  by  uniting 
with  a  cyclonic  storm,  as  happened  in  the  case  of  the  '  ral 
ton  hurricane,  and  thus  continued  after  reaching  the  land. 
The  destructiveness  ofthe  hurricanes  at  sea  has  been  greatly 
lessened  in  recent  years,  not  only  on  account  of  the  general 
use  of  steam  as  a  motive  power  for  vessels  instead  <>i  the 
wind,  but  because  meteorologists  ran  designate  the  time 
when  they  are  likely  t<>  occur  and  the  best  method  of   ailing 


212  NORTH    AMERICA 

away  from  them  if  encountered.  Since  the  establishment 
of  the  United  States  stations  for  observing  and  reporting 
the  atmospheric  conditions  on  the  West  India  islands,  the 
approach  of  a  hurricane  can  be  foretold  and  warning  given 
to  navigators  and  others  of  the  coming  danger. 


EVAPORATION 

An  important  element  in  climate  is  the  amount  of  mois- 
ture the  air  contains.  The  absolute  amount  of  water  va- 
pour in  a  given  volume  of  air  is  of  interest  in  this  connection, 
but  what  is  of  still  greater  importance  is  the  ratio  of  the 
amount  of  water  vapour  present  to  that  which  the  air  might 
contain,  or  what  is  termed  the  relative  humidity.  The  rela- 
tive humidity,  providing  the  actual  amount  of  vapour  pres- 
ent remains  unchanged,  depends  upon  the  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere.  For  this  reason,  the  warming  of  an  air- 
current,  as  the  trade-winds,  for  example,  in  which  the  water 
vapour  present  may,  previous  to  the  warming,  have  ap- 
proached saturation,  causes  it  to  have  a  still  greater  capac- 
ity, and  hence  decreases  the  relative  humidity. 

The  winds  in  passing  over  the  land  may  be  either  cooled 
or  warmed,  and  hence  their  influence  on  evaporation  is  con- 
tinually changing;  but  the  mean  rate  of  evaporation  from 
an  open  water  body  can  be  determined  for  a  definite  time, 
sav  a  vear,  for  various  localities,  and  thus  afford  a  means  of 
comparison  between  one  region  and  another.  Observation 
of  the  mean  annual  evaporation  for  various  stations,  mostly 
within  the  United  States,  have  been  made,  and  the  result 
shown  by  lines  drawn  through  places  where  the  rate  is  the 
same.  A  map  showing  this  data,  on  which  the  figures  indi- 
cate the  depth  of  evaporation  in  inches,  is  here  presented. 
The  systematic  study  of  evaporation,  and  especially  the  part 
played  in  it  by  plants,  has  scarcely  more  than  been  begun  on 
this  continent,  and  important  results  concerning  its  influence 
on  atmospheric  conditions  are  to  be  expected.  The  subject 
is  also  of  great  importance  in  reference  to  agriculture,  the 
prevention  of  frost,  etc. 


« 


2  14  NORTH    AMERICA 


LITERATURE 

The  great  storehouse  of  information  pertaining  to  the 
weather  and  climate  of  the  United  States  is  the  numerous 
publications  of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Similar  bureaus  exist  at  the  capitals  of  Can- 
ada and  Mexico,  which  have  issued  valuable  reports. 

Of  the  many  elementary  and  popular  books  on  mete- 
orology, the  following  will  be  found  helpful  in  continuing 
the  study  of  the  subjects  outlined  in  this  chapter: 

Davis,  W.  M.      Whirlwinds,  Cyclones,  and  Tornadoes,  Lee  &  Shep- 

ard,  Boston,  1884;  Elementary  Meteorology,  Ginn  &  Co.,  Boston, 

1894. 
Ferril,  W.     A  Popular  Treatise  on  the  Winds.     Wiley  &  Sons,  New 

York,  1889. 
Greely,  A.  W.     American  Weather.     Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  New  York, 

1888. 
Maryland  Weather  Service,  vol.  1,  Baltimore,  1899.    Contains  a  valuable 

bibliography. 
RUSSELL,  T.     Meteorology.     Macmillan  &  Co.,  New  York,  1895. 
Shaler,  N.  S.     Aspects  of  the  Earth.     Scribner's  Sons,  New  York, 

1889. 
Waldo,  F.     Modern  Meteorology,  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York,  1893; 

Elementary  Meteorology,  American  Book  Company,  New  York,  1896. 


CHAPTER    IV 

PLANT    LIFE 

If  we  take  the  trees  as  representatives  of  the  flora  of 
North  America,  and  this  seems  to  be  the  only  practicable 
method  in  a  general  treatise,  we  find  them  growing  most 
densely  and  presenting  at  the  same  time  the  greatest  variety 
where  the  temperature  is  uniformly  high  throughout  the 
year  and  the  rainfall  heavy  and  long-continued.  From  the 
torrid  lowlands  the  forests  in  general  decrease  in  the  variety 
and  number  of  trees  on  a  given  area,  both  towards  the 
north,  where  temperature  becomes  the  controlling  factor, 
and  towards  regions  of  small  rainfall,  where  the  leading  ad- 
verse condition  is  deficiency  of  moisture.  In  the  most 
highly  favoured  localities  the  struggle  for  existence  be- 
tween species  and  species  and  individual  with  individual  is 
intense,  exposure  to  the  life-giving  sunlight  being  the 
dominant  aim  of  every  one  of  the  contending  hosts.  As 
drier  or  colder  regions  are  approached,  but  few  species  can 
survive  and  the  forests  are  characterized  by  their  monotony. 
Where  the  conditions  of  heat  and  moisture  are  such  that 
the  existence  of  a  species  is  precarious,  the  balance  of  pi  >\\  er, 
so  to  speak,  passes  to  the  secondary  conditions;  and  the 
texture  and  composition  of  the  soil,  slight  differences  in 
the  relief  of  the  land,  and  consequently  in  drainage  or  in  the 
degree  of  exposure  to  light,  prevalence  of  fires,  etc.,  make 
themselves  prominent  and  limit  distribution. 

From  a  geographical  point  of  view,  the  broadesl  fea- 
tures in  the  flora  of  North  America  arc  the  forested  and 
unforested  areas.  The  distribution  of  the  forests,  prairies, 
and  treeless  plains  as  they  existed  previous  to  the  coming 
of  Europeans  is  shown  on  the  accompanying  map.  For 
the  portion  of  the  continent  to  the  northward  o\    Mex- 

21? 


Fig.  28. — Map  showing  the  distribution  of  forests  in  North  America. 


PLANT    LIFE  217 

ico  the  data  on  which  this  map  is  based  are  much  more 
abundant  than  for  the  southern  portion. 


THE    FORESTS 

As  is  indicated  on  the  map  just  referred  to,  the  forests 
of  North  America  in  a  general  way  form  a  broad  belt,  for 
the  most  part  within  the  influence  of  winds  from  the  ocean, 
which  surrounds  a  large  area  of  treeless  plains  and  plateaus 
in  the  west-central  portion  of  the  interior  continental  basin, 
but  is  broken  and  rendered  irregular  in  its  southwestern 
part  of  the  treeless  valley  of  the  Great  Basin  region.  The 
irregular  circular  belt  of  tree-covered  land  is  closed  at  the 
south  by  the  forest  on  the  lowlands  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America.  This  vast  forest  belt,  extending  from  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  Pacific,  and  from  Panama  to  northern  Canada, 
presents  great  variations  even  in  its  larger  features,  and,  for 
convenience,  and  also  with  the  aim  of  expressing  in  a  rough 
way  natural  relationships,  needs  to  be  subdivided  for  pur- 
pose of  study.  The  basis  for  such  a  subdivision  has  already 
been  suggested,  as  the  forests,  like  all  other  divisions  of  the 
life  of  the  continent,  are  an  expression  of  climatic  condi- 
tions— that  is,  the  boundaries  of  the  botanical  and  zoolog- 
ical provinces  should  agree  with  those  of  the  climatic  prov- 
inces. 

On  this  basis  we  have  the  tropical  forest,  which  covers 
the  more  humid  portions  of  the  east  and  west  margins  as 
well  as  all  of  the  southern  portion  of  Mexico,  together  with 
nearly  all  of  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  and 
includes  the  southern  extremity  of  Florida.  Within  the 
tropical  forest,  however,  there  arc  high  mountains  on  which 
trees  with  the  general  characteristic  of  those  more  north- 
ern floras  find  a  congenial  habitat.  The  two  austral  and  the 
transition  provinces  are  to  a  greal  extent  clothed  with  diver- 
sified forests,  which  are  naturally  divided  into  two  portions: 
an  eastern  division,  embracing  the-  Atlantic  and  (lull  border 
of  the  United  States,  together  with  the  eastern  pari  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Greal  Lakes  region:  and  a  west- 
ern division,  in   which   is  included  the   lands  bordering  the 


2iS  NORTH    AMERICA 

Pacific  from  near  Mount  St.  Elias  southward  to  the  vicinity 
of  San  Francisco,  and  also  several  irregular  branches  or  de- 
tached island-like  areas  on  the  Pacific  mountains,  in  the 
United  States  and  Mexico.  The  former  of  these  divisions 
may,  in  a  general  way.  be  termed  the  Atlantic,  and  the  latter 
the  Pacific  forest.  Separating  them  is  the  treeless  west- 
central  portion  of  the  Continental  basin.  Both  the  Atlan- 
tic and  Pacific  forests  merge  at  the  north  with  the  boreal 
forest,  which  extends  diagonally  across  the  continent  from 
Newfoundland  to  Alaska.  Peninsula-like  and  island-like 
areas  occupied  by  the  boreal  forest  occur  in  the  sea-like 
expanse  of  the  transition  and  austral  provinces,  on  both  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  mountains. 

The  tropical  and  boreal  forests  have  their  greatest  ex- 
tension from  east  to  west  or  with  the  parallels  of  latitude, 
and  are  remarkable  for  their  uniformity  in  general  charac- 
teristics, the  reason  being  that  climatic  conditions,  and 
especially  the  temperature  in  summer,  change  less  rapidly 
along  east  and  west  than  along  north  and  south  lines.  The 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  forests,  on  the  other  hand,  have  their 
greatest  extension  across  the  parallels  of  latitude,  and  hence 
experience  marked  changes  from  locality  to  locality  in  both 
temperature  and  precipitation,  and  are  characterized  by 
conspicuous  changes  from  one  locality  to  another  in  the 
genera  and  species  of  trees  of  which  they  are  composed. 
In  each  of  the  areas  occupied  by  the  major  divisions  of  the 
encircling  continental  forest  belt  there  are  marked  varia- 
tions in  elevation,  which  are  accompanied  by  corresponding 
climatic  changes,  and  hence  by  modifications  in  the  forest 
growths.  Of  all  portions  of  the  continental  forest  belt, 
variation  in  elevation  is  least  marked  in  the  forests  of 
Canada,  and  for  this  reason,  in  part,  we  there  find  the 
most  uniform  and  most  monotonous  of  all  the  forests 
of  the  continent.  The  influence  of  elevation,  however, 
on  climate  and  on  both  plant  and  animal  life  is  greater  for 
a  given  measure,  as  for  1,000  feet,  in  the  torrid  than  in  the 
cool  or  cold  zone,  for  the  reason  that  the  possible  range 
in  climatic  conditions  is  much  greater  at  the  south  than 
at  the  north. 


PLANT    LIFE  219 

The  Tropical  Forest. — There  are  great  areas  in  southern 
Mexico  which  are  clothed  with  a  typical  tropical  forest; 
■while  other  similar  forests  cover  nearly  all  of  the  lower  por- 
tions of  Central  /\merica,  the  larger  or  more  rugged  West 
India  islands,  and  the  southern  extremity  of  Florida. 
Throughout  this  vast  region,  within  the  influence  of  the 
trade-winds  and  of  the  equatorial  rains,  the  forests  are  lux- 
uriant and  beautiful,  except  on  lowlands  not  adjacent  to 
the  windward  side  of  mountains.  The  characteristic  trees 
of  the  hot,  humid  lowlands  extend  up  the  mountain  to  an 
elevation  of  some  4,000  or  5,000  feet,  where  a  change  to  the 
aspects  familiar  in  the  lowlands  of  the  temperate  zone  be- 
gins, and  palms  give  place  to  oaks  and  pines. 

Of  the  many  features  of  the  tropical  forests  which  im- 
press a  traveller  from  colder  regions,  none  excite  greater 
wonder  than  the  large  number  of  vegetable  species  growing 
in  close  proximity.  It  has  been  said,  and  apparently  the 
statement  cannot  be  successfully  challenged,  that  a  greater 
variety  of  plants  may  be  collected  on  100  square  yards  of 
surface  in  the  humid,  tropical  lowlands  than  can  be  found 
on  100  square  miles  in  the  forest  of  central  Canada.  It  is 
probably  safe  to  extend  this  striking  contrast  by  saying  that 
of  the  trees  on  a  typical  area  in  the  tropical  forest  of  the 
size  mentioned,  there  are  in  many  localities  more  species 
than  in  the  whole  of  the  subarctic  forest. 

Among  the  characteristics  of  tropical  forests  is  the  pres- 
ence of  many  kinds  of  plants  on  a  limited  area,  hundreds  of 
species  struggling  upward  to  the  light  where  there  seems 
room  but  for  one;  the  variety  of  mosses  and  lichens  ;  the  pro- 
fusion of  flowering  parasites;  the  luxuriance  of  the  vines, 
many  of  which  are  armed  with  spines;  and  the  abundance 
of  the  remarkable  aerial  roots  termed  lianas.  Of  the  last 
there  is  a  great  variety,  some  of  them  of  large  size  and  sur- 
prising length;  they  frequently  descend  from  plants  entwined 
among  the  topmost  branches  of  great  trees.  looking  not 
unlike  the  cordage  of  a  foresl  of  masts  in  some  crowded 
port,  and  on  reaching  the  ground  send  out  rootlets  in  the 
humid  soil. 

In  the  depths  of  a  tropical  forest  it  is  always  twilight. 


220  NORTH    AMERICA 

Even  at  noontide  no  shafts  of  yellow  sunlight  reach  the 
ground  to  glorify  mossy  banks  and  flower-gemmed  dells, 
as  in  the  open  woods  of  temperate  climes,  but  a  diffused 
greenish  light,  producing  weird  effects,  alone  penetrates, 
the  dense  leafy  canopy  far  overhead.  The  roots  of  even 
the  larger  trees  in  these  hot,  humid  forests  do  not  have 
to  descend  deeply  in  order  to  find  the  necessary  moisture 
or  to  receive  protection  from  frost  and  sudden  changes  of 
temperature,  but  are  usually  widely  expanded  and  thickly 
interwoven  over  the  surface.  The  earth  from  which  the 
dense  vegetation  derives  nourishment  is  surprisingly  de- 
ficient in  vegetable  mould,  which  is  a  characteristic  feature 
in  the  moist  forests  of  temperate  and  even  subarctic  re- 
gions, where  the  complete  decay  of  dead  vegetation  is  long 
delayed.  In  the  tropical  forests  the  annual  supply  of  dead 
vegetable  matter  suitable  to  be  transformed  into  humus 
is  far  greater  than  on  a  corresponding  area  in  the  woods  of 
more  northern  regions,  but  decay  is  so  rapid,  owing  to  the 
uniformly  high  temperature  and  the  conditions  favouring 
the  multiplication  of  bacteria,  that  even  great  trees  on 
falling  quickly  disappear;  in  many  instances,  the  forms  of 
prostrate  tree  trunks  are  preserved  and  overgrown  with 
luxuriant  mosses  or  gorgeously  festooned  with  ferns  and 
orchids,  but  soon  become  fragile  shells  from  which  nearly 
all  the  woody  tissues  have  been  removed  by  decay  or  by 
swarming  colonies  of  insects.  Where  life  is  so  exuberant 
and  the  wants  of  growing  plants  so  great  it  seems  as  if 
the  food  supply  was  insufficient,  and  that  none  could  be 
spared  to  accumulate  on  the  ground  and  form  a  soil. 

The  two  most  characteristic  and  distinctive  classes  of 
plants  in  the  tropical  forest's  are  the  palms  and  the  ferns, 
each  of  which  is  represented  by  many  genera,  a  large  num- 
ber of  species,  and  multitudes  of  individuals,  and  in  each 
class  there  is  a  gradation  in  size  from  low  herbaceous 
growths  to  arboreal  forms. 

In  every  way  worthy  of  first  mention  among  the  plants 
of  the  Caribbean  forests  are  the  palms.  A  characteristic 
portion  of  the  forest  referred  to  occurs  in  Cuba,  where,  as 
is  stated  by  R.  T.  Hill  in  his  recently  published  and  attrac- 


PLANT    LIFE  221 

tive  book  descriptive  of  the  West  Indies,  there  are  some 
26  species  of  palms,  which  give  variety  and  beauty  to  the 
scenery  of  the  "  Pearl  of  the  Antilles,"  as  well  as  shade 
and  food  to  its  inhabitants.  At  the  head  of  these  for 
height  and  grace  of  form  stands  the  royal  palm,  which 
might  well  be  chosen  for  the  emblem  of  the  fair  island 
it  adorns.  The  wide-spreading  crown  of  glossy  pinnate 
leaves  of  this  species  is  borne  on  a  spindle-shaped  stem 
of  tough  fibrous  wood — so  strong  and  pliant  that  it  defies 
even  the  hurricane — in  many  instances  150  feet  above  the 
ground.  The  tree  is  a  marvel  of  beauty  and  elasticity,  and, 
fortunately  for  Cuba,  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  of  the 
larger  trees  on  the  island.  It  is  met  with  almost  every- 
where; in  the  centre  of  broad  pasture-lands  it  often  stands 
alone,  tall  and  straight,  while  bordering  the  cultivated  fields 
of  the  rich  planter  it  forms  a  shady  avenue  to  his  dwelling. 
This  well-named  royal  palm  has  also  been  called  the  blessed 
tree,  for  every  part  of  it  has  its  usefulness  to  mankind.  Cer- 
tain medicinal  qualities  are  claimed  for  its  roots;  the  outer 
portion  of  its  trunk  is  easily  split  into  boards  for  use  in 
making  houses  and  furniture  for  the  poorer  people;  in  the 
centre  of  the  cluster  of  young  leaves  at  the  summit  is  a 
tender  substance  which  is  eaten  raw,  or  cooked  as  a  vege- 
table, or  preserved  with  sugar  as  a  table  delicacy.  The 
broadened  leaf-stalks  where  they  leave  the  main  stem  form 
a  sheath-like  expansion  resembling  a  thin  board,  often  four 
to  six  feet  long,  which  is  made  to  serve  a  variety  of  pur- 
poses, such  as  plates,  and  when  soaked  in  water  becomes 
pliable  and  may  be  fashioned  into  baskets  and  dishes  for 
cooking,  and  at  the  same  time  furnishes  salt  for  the  season- 
ing of  the  boiling  vegetables  or  meat. 

The  world-encircling  cocoanut-palm  is  found  about  the 
shore  of  tropical  North  America,  and  there,  as  elsewhere, 
serves  a  great  variety  of  uses,  being  a  greater  blessing. 
especially  to  the  natives  and  the  poorer  descendants  of  Kuro- 
pean  and  African  immigrants,  than  even  the  royal  palm. 
The  economic  importance  of  its  wood-fibres,  leaves,  and 
fruit  are  too  well  known  to  require  re-enumeration. 

While  the  wealth  of  palms  is  confined  to  the  hot,  moist 


222  NORTH    AMERICA 

regions  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West  Indies, 
several  members  of  the  same  great  family  are  found  in  the 
United  States.  The  royal  palm  is  native  to  southern  Flor- 
ida, while  the  low  fan-palms  cover  much  of  the  northern 
portion  of  the  same  State,  and  occur  even  about  the  Ozark 
Hills  in  Arkansas,  and  the  palmetto,  growing  to  be  a  stately 
tree,  is  found  near  the  coast  in  the  Carolinas  and  is  the 
emblem  of  South  Carolina,  the  "  Palmetto  State." 

The  ferns,  although  abundant,  especially  in  moist  woods 
from  Alaska  southward,  throughout  the  continent,  reach 
their  greatest  variety  and  richest  luxuriance  in  the  West 
Indies  and  Central  America,  where  the  graceful  and  most 
artistically  beautiful  tree-ferns  add  an  indescribable  charm 
to  the  always  varied  foliage.  The  tree-ferns  grow  farther 
up  the  mountains  of  the  torrid  zone  than  do  the  larger 
palms  (in  the  same  manner  that  the  smaller  ferns  extend 
much  farther  north  than  the  most  hardy  palmettoes),  and 
form  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the  foreground  of  nearly 
everv  wide-reaching  prospect  in  the  more  elevated  portions 
of  the  West  Indies,  Central  America,  and  south-central 
Mexico. 

In  addition  to  the  palms  and  ferns,  the  tropical  forests 
of  North  America  contain  a  large  number  of  trees  of  great 
economic  importance.  Chief  among  these  are  the  mahog- 
any, which  is  native  to  the  lands  bordering  the  Caribbean 
Sea  and  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  reaches  the  largest  size  and 
produces  the  most  beautiful  and  most  highly  prized  wood 
on  Cuba,  Haiti,  the  Bahamas,  and  Jamaica.  As  is  well 
known,  this  hard,  dark,  heavy,  fine-grained,  and  exceeding- 
ly durable  wood  has  been  used  for  the  best  grades  of  cabinet- 
work for  about  two  centuries,  and  is  still  unsurpassed 
for  the  beauty  of  its  grain,  susceptibility  of  a  high  polish, 
and  the  several  ways  in  which  it  is  adapted  for  the  car- 
ver's tool.  On  account  of  the  great  and  long-continued  de- 
mand for  its  wood  it  has  become  scarce  in  all  but  the  most  in- 
accessible localities.  When  allowed  to  reach  full  maturity 
it  is  a  large,  wide-spreading  tree  with  numerous  branches, 
looking  not  unlike  a  giant  oak,  but  has  pinnate  leaves 
and  small,  although  somewhat  conspicuous,  white  flowers. 


PLANT    LIFE  223 

Another  gift  of  the  tropical  forest  is  the  lignum-vitse, 
which  furnishes  the  exceedingly  tough,  hard,  resinous  wood 
preferred  above  all  others  for  the  making  of  pulleys,  mal- 
lets, etc.  Many  other  highly  prized  woods,  not  known, 
however,  by  familiar  names,  are  also  found  in  the  varied 
forests  of  tropical  America,  as  well  as  numerous  vegetable 
dyes,  such  as  logwood,  brazil-wood,  indigo,  etc. 

The  lands  of  the  Caribbean-Gulf  region  are  credited 
with  having  introduced  to  civilized  man  the  potato,  Indian 
corn  (maize),  and  tobacco,  although  the  home  of  the  for- 
mer is  probably  in  the  Andean  portion  of  South  America. 
Indian  corn  grows  luxuriantly  not  only  in  the  hot  lowlands 
of  Mexico,  but  on  the  border  of  the  central  table-land  of 
that  republic,  where  it  is  supposed  to  be  indigenous,  and 
has  now  become  one  of  the  leading  crops  of  temperate 
North  America,  and  is  cultivated  in  many  other  portions 
of  the  world.  Tobacco  was  found  under  cultivation  in  Mex- 
ico at  the  time  of  the  first  coming  of  Europeans,  and  re- 
tains for  its  familiar  name  the  appellation  of  the  district 
where  it  was  first  seen.  From  Mexico  also  come  the 
dahlia  and  the  giant  sunflower,  as  well  as  the  various  spe- 
cies of  aloes  and  cacti  now  so  common  in  gardens  and 
conservatories  the  world  over. 

Of  all  the  plants,  excepting  Indian  corn  and  the  potato, 
which  are  native  to  the  region  under  review,  none  has 
proved  such  an  unalloyed  blessing  to  civilized  man  as  the 
cacao-tree.  As  this  tree  is  unfamiliar  to  most  residents  of 
temperate  lands,  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  to  transcribe  in 
part  a  description  of  it  from  Rhind's  Vegetable  Kingdom. 
The  tree  is  very  handsome,  from  12  to  16  feet  high,  with 
an  upright  trunk  some  5  feet  high;  the  leaves  are  lanceo- 
late, with  entire  margins,  and  of  a  bright-green  colour;  the 
flowers  are  inconspicuous,  reddish,  with  yellowish  sepals; 
the  fruit,  attached  by  short  stems  to  both  trunk  and 
branches,  has  a  yellowish  and  reddish  colour,  oblong,  about 
3  inches  in  length,  and  consists  of  a  fleshy  rind,  half  an 
inch  thick,  containing  a  white  pulp  in  which  are  imbedded 
about  25  seeds.    Tin-  seeds,  when  roasted,  freed  from  their 

husks,   and    ground,    furnish    the   chocolate    so   extensively 


224  NORTH    AMERICA 

used,  especially  in  France  and  Spain  and  in  the  former  Span- 
ish colonies,  and  is  increasing  in  favour  among  English- 
speaking  people. 

Vanilla,  which  is  used  in  flavouring  chocolate  as  well 
as  many  other  dishes,  was  also  found  in  use  among  the 
Aztecs  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest.  The  vanilla- 
plant  is  a  climbing  vine,  with  lanceolate  leaves  18  inches 
or  more  in  length,  and  produces  a  pod  containing  bean-like 
seeds.  The  pods  and  seeds  when  properly  dried  furnish 
the  flavouring  extract  of  commerce. 

Although  the  trees  which  yield  rubber  in  America,  as 
well  as  the  cinchona,  from  the  bark  of  which  quinine  is 
obtained,  are  justly  to  be  accredited  to  South  America, 
yet  certain  varieties  of  these  useful  plants  occur  in  Cen- 
tral America  and  are  under  cultivation  as  far  northward  as 
central  Mexico. 

A  more  detailed  account  of  the  plants  of  great  utility 
in  one  direction  or  another  native  to  the  tropical  forests, 
should  include  plantains,  bananas,  and  yams,  the  wide  dis- 
tribution of  which,  largely  by  human  agency,  throughout 
the  torrid  zone  is  well  known.  The  delicious  pineapple 
is  native  to  the  Caribbean  region,  and  was  found  in  the 
markets  of  the  Aztecs  by  the  early  Spanish  invaders, 
although  perhaps  indigenous  to  other  lands  as  well.  In 
Mexico  especially,  but  on  the  borders  of  the  tropical  for- 
est and  in  the  drier  interior,  grows  the  agave,  from  which 
the  national  beverage,  pulque,  is  obtained,  and  another  spe- 
cies of  the  same  peculiarly  American  family  of  plants  sup- 
plies great  quantities  of  the  tough  fibre  known  as  sisal  or 
henequen  hemp,  particularly  on  the  stony,  arid  portions 
of  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan.  Of  interest  to  children  espe- 
cially is  the  fact  that  Mexico  exports  some  3,000,000 
pounds  of  chewing-gum  each  year,  which  is  obtained  from 
a  plant  there  growing  wild.  To  this  list  of  indigenous 
products  may  be  added  ginger,  arrowroot,  etc.,  as  well  as 
many  fruits  scarcely  known  outside  the  tropics,  such  as 
the  mango,  alligator-pear,  breadfruit,  and  numerous  others. 
This  hasty  enumeration  might  be  greatly  extended  or  pre- 
sented in  more  detail,  but  probably  enough  has  been  said 


PLANT    LIFE  225 

to  indicate  the  great  and  probably  as  yet  but  partially  de- 
termined economic  importance  of  the  vegetable  products 
of  the  torrid  portion  of  North  America. 

Associated  with  the  tropical  forest,  but  thriving  best 
in  an  advanced  skirmish-line  about  its  drier  inland  bor- 
ders, is  a  group  of  plants  indigenous  to  the  two  Americas — 
the  strangely  shaped  and  spinous  cacti.  One  of  these,  the 
prickly-pear,  as  it  is  termed  on  account  of  its  pear-like 
edible  fruit,  is  the  emblem  of  Mexico.  A  fit  legend  to  place 
about  this  unique  heraldic  design  would  be  the  motto  in- 
scribed on  the  rattlesnake  flag  of  colonial  days  in  America, 
"  Don't  tread  on  me,"  as  every  one  will  appreciate  who 
has  travelled  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  United 
States  or  in  the  upland  regions  of  Mexico. 

The  cacti  extend  from  South  America  northward 
through  the  lands  bordering  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  east  of  the  Mississippi  are  represented  by 
a  single  genus,  Opimtia — the  prickly-pear,  or  Indian  fig, 
as  it  is  often  termed — which  grows  in  dry  situations  as 
far  north  as  Massachusetts  and  Michigan.  In  the  Great 
Basin  several  genera  of  cacti  are  plentiful,  especially  on 
dry,  stony  uplands,  and  two  species  reach  as  far  northward 
as' the  Canadian  boundary.  Although  the  cacti  tribe  is 
widely  distributed,  the  region  where  it  presents  the  great- 
est variety  and  the  largest  individuals  is  in  the  dry,  semi- 
desert  portions  of  Arizona  and  the  table-lands  of  central 
Mexico.  It  is  most  at  home  on  sterile,  rocky  ridges  and 
amid  bare  cliffs  where  there  appears  to  be  but  little  soil, 
but  the  strong  roots  strike  deep  into  the  earth  in  search 
of  moisture.  The  cacti  present  great  diversity  of  form 
and  an  indefinite  differentiation  of  stem  and  leaf.  In  fact, 
there  are  no  easily  recognised  leaves  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  tejm,  but   the  tinted  and  jointed  stems  perform   the 

function  of  foliage.  The  plants  are  economical  of  moisture, 
and  not  only  present  a  minimum  of  surface  for  evaporation 
or  transpiration,  but  their  epidermal  tissues  are  for  the  most 
part  without  pores,  thus  retarding  the  escape  of  the  mois- 
ture drawn  from  the  seemingl)  dry  soil. 

in  size  and  shape  the  cacti  presenl  great  variety,  ran- 


226  NORTH    AMERICA 

ging  through  all  gradations  from  the  thick,  strongly  jointed, 
pad-like  expansions  of  the  prickly-pear,  a  few  inches  high, 
growing  in  widely  extended  clusters  and  massive  globular 
forms,  looking  not  unlike  spiny  melons,  2  or  3  feet  or  more 
in  diameter,  to  jointed  and  fluted  columns,  bristling  with 
sharp  spines,  the  largest  of  which,  known  as  the  candela- 
brum cactus,  attains  a  height  of  from  40  to  60  feet.  In 
this  the  largest  of  all  the  cacti,  which  is  not  uncommon  in 
Arizona  and  adjacent  portions  of  Mexico,  the  central  up- 
right stem,  frequently  20  inches  or  more  in  diameter,  sends 
out  from  1  to  perhaps  7  or  8  club-shaped  branches,  which 
leave  the  parent  stem  nearly  at  right  angles,  but  soon  bend 
upward  and  become  parallel  with  the  central  stalk,  which 
they  frequently  surpass  in  height,  their  form  thus  suggest- 
ing a  branching  candlestick  or  candelabrum. 

In  spite  of  the  bizarre  and  frequently  repellent  appear- 
ance of  the  cacti  as  seen  under  cultivation,  in  their  barren 
homes  they  are  in  harmony  with  their  surroundings,  and 
add  a  characteristic,  and  even  beautiful  element  to  the  sce- 
nery of  the  parched  and  generally  desolate  valleys  and  rocky 
slopes  where  they  thrive  best.  Their  blossoms  are  large, 
usually  either  white  or  brilliantly  coloured,  and  expand  in 
the  hot,  dry  air,  fully  exposed  to  the  intense  sunlight,  and 
present  a  freshness  and  vigour  which  tell  of  the  abundant 
store  of  moisture  within  the  thick  rind  inclosing  their  stems. 
The  showy  flowers  are  borne  close  to  the  body  of  the  plant 
or  at  the  ends  or  edges  of  the  inflated  pad-like  leaves, 
and  are  scentless,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  night-bloom- 
ing species,  and  attract  insects  from  afar  by  reason  of  the 
conspicuousness  of  their  widely  expanded  corollas.  The 
fruits  also  are  usually  conspicuous,  and  present  many  rich 
tints  of  red  and  yellow,  which  at  a  little  distance  give  them 
the  appearance  of  flowers.  The  fruit  of  several  species 
are  edible,  and  even  delicious,  especially  when  gathered 
fresh  from  the  thorny  stems  and  eaten  on  the  desert,  per- 
haps many  miles  from  the  nearest  spring  or  stream.  One 
species  of  cactus  growing  abundantly  in  Mexico  and  known 
as  the  cochineal-fig,  is  inhabited  by  the  cochineal-insect, 
from  which  the  highly  prized  dye  of  that  name  is  obtained. 


PLANT    LIFE  227 

A  companion  of  the  cacti  in  the  arid  region  where  they 
flourish  best  is  the  yucca,  or  Spanish  bayonet,  which  some- 
times attains  the  size  of  small  trees  and  throws  out  several 
branches.  Its  leaves  are  stiff,  thick-stemmed,  and  each  one 
terminated  by  a  sharp  spine,  as  is  well  known  from  the 
many  examples  to  be  seen  under  cultivation  in  Europe 
and  America.  The  flowers  are  white  and  borne  in  luxuriant 
showy  spikes  a  foot  or  two  in  length,  and  sometimes  give 
to  dry,  rocky  slopes  the  appearance  of  a  luxuriant  garden. 

The  cacti,  yuccas,  and  associated  plants  of  the  most 
arid  portions  of  the  continent  stand  far  apart,  without  mu- 
tual support  or  shelter,  and  find  protection  in  their  spines, 
thick  rinds,  and  frequently  acrid  juices.  Their  colours  are 
usually  neutral,  grayish  green,  rendered  still  more  incon- 
spicuous by  the  dust  that  settles  on  them,  but  their  flowers 
are  as  a  rule  conspicuous,  thus  serving  to  attract  pollen- 
bearing  insects,  and  their  fruits  are  in  many  instances 
brightly  coloured,  and  furnish  food  for  birds  and  other 
animals,  which  assist  in  the  distribution  of  their  seeds. 

The  Atlantic  Forest. — The  originally  forest-covered  east- 
ern portion  of  North  America,  referred  to  under  the  term 
Atlantic  forest,  embraces  the  region  from  the  eastern  coast 
of  the  continent  inland  across  the  Appalachian  Mountains 
and  interior  Continental  basin  to  the  eastern  border  of  the 
prairies  or  plains ;  its  southern  limit,  in  a  general  way,  is 
the  coast-line  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  the  arbitrary 
boundary,  dividing  it  from  the  tropical  forest,  crosses  the 
southern  portion  of  Florida,  and  at  the  extreme  southwest 
is  drawn  at  the  Rio  Grande.  The  northern  boundary  of 
the  Atlantic  forest  is  also  an  arbitrary  line,  and  follows 
the  fiftieth  parallel  of  latitude  from  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  westward  to  the  region  about  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods;  along  this  boundary  the  varied  Atlantic  forest 
merges  with  the  monotonous  and  mostly  coniferous  sub- 
arctic forest.  The  region  thus  roughly  outlined  comprises 
over  2,000,000  square  miles,  and  was  at  the  time  of  the 
first  coming  of  white  men  to  America  almost  completely 
forest  covered,  but  the  natural  conditions  are  now  pro- 
foundly modified,  and  to  a  great  extent  the  trees  have  been 


22S  NORTH    AMERICA 

cut  or  burned,  and  the  land  they  shaded  converted  into 
cultivated  fields. 

The  Atlantic  forest  as  a  whole  has  two  leading  charac- 
teristics, the  first  being  the  great  variety  and  frequently 
laro-e  size  of  the  deciduous  trees — that  is,  of  broad-leaved 
trees,  such  as  the  oak,  hickory,  elm,  maple,  chestnut,  etc., 
which  drop  their  ripe  leaves  each  fall  and  renew  them  the 
following  spring — and  the  second,  the  intermingling  of  the 
trees  of  the  class  just  mentioned  with  the  coniferous  trees, 
such  as  the  pine,  spruce,  tamarack,  etc.,  which  have  narrow, 
needle-shaped  leaves  and  are  usually  designated  as  ever- 
greens. While  these  general  statements  are  sufficiently 
accurate  for  our  present  purpose,  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  some  of  the  broad-leaved  trees  (Angiospasms)  are  ever- 
green, especially  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  Atlantic 
forest,  as,  for  example,  some  of  the  oaks,  the  magnolias, 
the  holly,  etc.;  while  at  the  north,  certain  of  the  conifers 
(Gxmnos  perms)  shed  their  leaves  each  fall,  as  is  conspicu- 
ously illustrated  by  the  yellow  of  the  tamarack  or  larch 
forests  of  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  United  States 
and  eastern  Canada,  in  November,  and  the  bright  green 
of  the  same  trees  in  May  of  each  year.  It  is  in  the  inter- 
mediate temperate  region,  between  the  mostly  evergreen 
coniferous  subarctic  forests  and  the  mostly  evergreen 
broad-leaved  trees  of  the  Caribbean  forest,  that  the  won- 
derful transformation  in  the  colours  of  the  mountains  and 
plains  each  autumn  becomes  the  most  conspicuous  feature 
in  the  annual  round  of  seasonal  changes  as  expressed  by 
the  vegetation. 

Of  the  two  classes  of  forest-trees,  represented  by  the 
oak  and  the  pine,  which  are  intermingled  and  struggle  with 
each  other  for  supremacy  in  the  Atlantic  forest,  it  is  difficult 
to  say  which  is  the  more  beautiful  or  which  is  of  the  greater 
service  to  man.  The  broad-leaved  trees  give  us  our  hard- 
woods, used  extensively  for  furniture,  the  interior  finish  of 
buildings,  and  for  the  manufacture  of  tools,  farming  imple- 
ments, wagons,  carriages,  sleighs,  etc.  To  a  great  extent  it 
was  the  availability  of  these  strong,  tough,  hard,  and  durable 
woods  which  has  made  American  tools  and  implements  of 


PLANT    LIFE  229 

such  a  high  grade  of  excellence  that  they  are  in  demand  in 
every  civilized  country.  For  example,  the  American  ax- 
helve,  made  of  hickory,  is  almost  a  work  of  art,  as  well  as  of 
utility,  and  it  is  prized  above  all  others  by  foresters  the 
world  over.  The  same  tree  has  aided  no  less  efficiently  in 
the  popularity  and  excellence  of  American  carriages  and 
sleighs,  the  equal  of  which  for  lightness,  strength,  and 
durabilitv  has  not  been  reached  in  other  countries.  The 
pines  and  their  near  relatives  furnish  what  unfortunately 
has  been  considered  an  unlimited  supply  of  easily  workable 
lumber,  suitable  for  building  houses,  vessels,  bridges,  and 
many  other  purposes.  Of  the  pine  lumber  supplied  by  the 
Atlantic  forest,  there  are  two  principal  varieties,  the  far- 
famed  white  pine,  furnished  by  New  England,  the  Great 
Lake  region,  and  southeastern  Canada,  and  the  yellow  pine, 
which  comes  from  the  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States. 

Of  the  Angiosperms  which  reach  the  dignity  of  trees, 
the  Atlantic  forest  possesses  a  variety  and  abundance  not 
exceeded  elsewhere  in  the  world.  The  most  characteristic 
examples  are  the  maples,  elms,  oaks,  hickories,  walnuts, 
chestnuts,  ashes,  basswoods,  birches,  tulip-trees,  magnolias, 
liquidambar,  tupelos,  sycamores,  etc.,  nearly  all  of  which  are 
represented  by  a  number  of  species  or  varieties  and  vast 
numbers  of  individuals.  While  this  diversity  is  found 
throughout  the  forests  of  the  east-central  part  of  the  conti- 
nent, certain  regions  are  characterized  by  the  abundance  and 
large  size  of  the  trees  belonging  to  one  or  to  a  few  genera,  so 
that  a  striking  change  is  met  with  as  one  travels  in  any  direc- 
tion. The  maples  and  elms  reach  their  greatest  size  and 
abundance  at  the  north,  especially  in  Xew  England,  and 
thence  westward  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  where  they  are 
the  favourite  shade-trees  of  villages  and  farms.  In  regions 
where  the  forests  have  been  removed  choice  specimens  of 
these  trees  have  frequently  been  saved  or  subsequently 
planted,  and  standing  alone,  without  competition  and  fully 
exposed  to  the  light,  reach  greal  perfection  <>f  form  and 
a  high  degree  of  beauty.  The  oaks  are  represented  by  a 
large  number  of  species  and  varieties  throughoul  the  entire 
Atlantic  forest,  but  reach  their  largest  size  and  great- 
16 


230  NORTH    AMERICA 

est  abundance,  both  of  species  and  individuals,  in  central 
and  southern  portions  of  the  eastern  United  States.  The 
same  may  be  said  also  of  the  hickories,  except  that  the  maxi- 
mum in  reference  to  size,  number  of  species,  and  abundance 
is  attained  in  the  region  of  the  Ozark  Hills.  The  tulip-tree, 
so  named  from  the  profusion  of  showy  yellow  blossoms  it 
bears,  is  large  and  wide-spreading,  with  broad,  dark-green 
leaves,  and  has  the  centre  of  its  habitat  in  Kentucky,  where 
many  magnificent  examples  occur  along  the  fences  sepa- 
rating the  broad  meadows  and  rich  pastures  of  the  region 
of  the  blue  grass,  but  thrives  also  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
westward  to  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  from  Ontario  on 
the  north  nearly  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south.  Xot 
only  is  the  tulip-tree  an  ornament  and  a  blessing  on  ac- 
count of  its  flower-laden  branches  and  dense  shade,  but  its 
white,  even-grained  wood  is  of  great  value. 

To  give  even  a  list  of  the  deciduous  trees  which  flourish 
and  reach  a  high  degree  of  perfection  in  the  Atlantic  forest 
would  require  far  more  space  than  is  at  present  available. 
There  is  one  other  genus,  however,  which  cannot  be 
passed  by  even  by  a  casual  observer,  and  that  is  the  mag- 
nolia, one  species  of  which,  the  graudiHora,  is  the  most 
magnificent  of  all  the  splendid  broad-leaved  trees  of  Amer- 
ica. This,  the  largest  and  finest  of  the  several  species  of 
its  genus  found  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  United  States, 
attains  a  great  size  in  the  southern  Appalachian  region, 
but  is  best  developed  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  It  is  frequently  from  50  to  80  feet  or  more 
in  height,  wide-spreading,  and  in  many  instances  upward 
of  3  feet  in  diameter,  with  dark-green  leaves  which  do  not 
fall  in  the  autumn.  In  spring  the  dark  foliage  is  beauti- 
fied by  cup-shaped  blossoms  of  creamy  whiteness  and 
remarkable  fragrance,  which  measure  3  or  4  inches  in 
diameter.  When  the  magnolia  is  in  blossom  it  becomes  a 
centre  of  delicious  perfume  and  a  colony  of  insect  life.  Its 
wood,  although  creamy  white  and  excellent  for  cabinet- 
work and  interior  finish  of  houses,  has  not  as  yet  found 
favour  for  these  or  other  purposes. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  species  of  broad-leaved 


PLANT    LIFE  231 

forest-trees  found  in  greatest  perfection  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  Atlantic  forest,  they  reach  their  greatest 
development  in  size,  number  of  species,  and  density  of 
growth  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  broad  Mississippi 
basin,  where,  in  addition  to  magnolias,  the  tulip-tree,  etc., 
chestnuts,  hickories,  oaks,  and  many  other  genera  grow 
side  by  side  and  attain  great  height  and  dignity.  This  is 
also  the  centre  of  dispersion  of  the  American  hawthorns, 
which  reach  a  size  and  beauty  unrivalled  elsewhere.  The 
Osage  orange  is  peculiar  to  this  region,  and  the  red  cedar 
(juniper),  the  most  widely  distributed  of  all  the  American 
conifers,  and  also  the  yellow  or  southern  pine  are  there 
at  their  best.  Much  of  this  region  still  retains  its  primitive 
wildness. 

The  great  extent  of  the  Atlantic  forest  in  latitude,  the 
topographic  diversity  of  the  region  it  occupies,  and  its  ex- 
posure on  the  east  to  maritime  and  on  the  west  to  conti- 
nental climatic  conditions,  have  led  to  great  variations 
within  itself.  From  the  coast  of  New  England  westward 
and  including  the  entire  drainage  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
together  with  an  extension  southward  along  the  Appa- 
lachians, the  forests  are  composed  largely  and  over  ex- 
tensive areas  almost  wholly  of  coniferous  trees.  This 
region  of  northern  evergreens  contains  in  its  southern  por- 
tion sturdy  growths  of  broad-leaved  deciduous  trees.  The 
spruces,  the  most  characteristic  of  the  trees  of  the  sub- 
arctic region,  are  present  in  abundance  on  the  mountains 
of  New  England,  and  still  form  a  dark  mantle  over  the 
Adirondack  hills;  but  en  the  less  elevated  lands  adjacent 
the  white  pine  dominated  and  outnumbered  all  its  rivals  in 
the  primeval  forest. 

The  white  or  Weymouth  pine,  which  up  to  the  present 
time  has  proved  to  be  of  greater  commercial  value  than 
any  other  tree  on  the  continent,  extends  westward  from 
southern  Newfoundland  and  the  coasts  of  the  maritime 
provinces  of  Canada  to  Minnesota,  and  occupies  nearly  the 
entire  drainage  area  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  together  with  an 
extension  southward  along  the  Appalachians  nearly  to 
their  southern  limit. 


232  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  white  pine  is  a  large  tree  for  the  region  in  which 
it  grows.  Its  height  is  from  70  to  150  feet,  with  a  diameter 
at  the  base  of  from  3  to  9  feet.  It  thrives  best  on  sandy 
soil  and  hills  of  glacial  drift,  and  endures  a  severe  winter 
climate,  as  well  as  the  frequently  long-continued  droughts 
of  the  hot  summers.  Its  wood  is  soft,  compact,  with  an 
even,  straight  grain,  and  is  not  conspicuously  resinous. 
The  sap-wood  is  nearly  white  and  the  heart  of  a  light 
brown,  slightly  tinged  with  red;  it  is  easily  worked  and 
susceptible  of  a  good  polish;  it  is  more  extensively  used 
for  boards,  shingles,  etc.,  than  any  other  wood  in  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  continent,  and  is  in  demand  also 
for  cabinet-work,  the  interior  finish  of  buildings,  ship- 
building, and  many  other  purposes. 

The  southern  pine — known  also  as  the  "  long-leaved 
pine";  "Georgia  pine,"  for  the  reason  that  the  lumber 
derived  from  it  was  first  extensively  shipped  from  that 
State;  "yellow  pine,"  in  reference  to  the  golden  colour 
of  its  wood;  and  "  hard  pine,"  in  distinction  from  the  softer 
white  pine — is  another  valuable  species.  The  tree  with 
these  several  synonyms,  of  which  the  term  southern  pine 
will  here  be  used,  forms  open  forests  with  but  scanty  under- 
growth, over  a  region  extending  from  near  the  Atlantic 
coast  in  the  Carolinas  and  Florida,  westward  to  the  delta 
region  of  the  Mississippi,  and  reappears  again  to  the 
southward  of  the  Ozark  Hills.  Although  not  so  large, 
and  to  many  admirers  of  beautiful  trees  not  so  pictur- 
esque or  pleasing  as  its  relative  in  the  more  rigorous  cli- 
mate of  the  St.  Lawrence  basin,  the  southern  pine,  grow- 
ing within  the  reach  of  the  moist,  warm  winds  from  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  still  an  attractive  tree,  es- 
pecially when  young  and  when  freedom  is  afforded  to 
expand  its  boughs.  It  is  seldom  over  100  feet  high, 
and  as  cut  for  lumber  has  on  an  average  a  diameter  of 
about  2  feet  at  the  base,  although  individuals  measuring 
3  or  4  feet  in  diameter  are  not  rare  in  certain  favoured 
areas.  It  grows  best  on  dry,  sandy  soil,  outside  the  flood- 
plains  of  streams,  where  it  forms  monotonous  forests,  with 
but  few  intergrowths  of  other  trees.     The  wood  is  heavy, 


PLANT    LIFE  233 

hard,  strong,  durable,  coarse-grained,  very  resinous,  and 
of  many  shades  of  brown  and  yellow.  When  sawed  into 
lumber,  it  serves  a  wide  range  of  uses,  more  especially  for 
the  frames  of  buildings  and  ships,  and  for  the  floors  and 
interior  finish  of  houses. 

Xext  to  the  southern  pine,  the  most  characteristic 
tree  of  the  Atlantic  coastal  plain  southward  from  Virginia 
and  westward  through  the  Gulf  States,  is  the  cypress,  also 
a  conifer,  but,  like  the  tamarack,  sheds  its  leaves  in  the 
autumn.  The  cypress  grows  especially  in  swampy  locali- 
ties, and  has  a  widely  expanded  base,  suitable  for  support 
on  marshy  soil,  and  reaches  a  large  girth,  although  seldom 
over  75  feet  high.  Aged  and  most  picturesque  examples 
are  growing  in  isolated  positions  in  Lake  Drummond,  the 
central  water  body  of  the  Dismal  Swamp,  and  in  many 
other  similar  situations  in  the  belt  of  low  country  fringing 
the  borders  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Its  wood 
is  used  for  most  of  the  purposes  for  which  the  southern  pine 
is  employed,  and  now  that  the  white  pine  is  approaching 
extinction,  is  to  a  considerable  extent  supplying  the  de- 
mand for  cabinet-wood. 

In  glancing  at  the  larger  and  most  numerous  trees  of 
the  Atlantic  forest,  and  those  of  greatest  utility,  we  should 
not  neglect  the  humbler  plants,  usually  of  little,  if  any, 
purely  commercial  value,  but  priceless  on  account  of  their 
beauty  and  the  fragrance  of  their  flowers,  which  grow 
beneath  the  shade  of  their  larger  and  more  stately  asso- 
ciates or  are  content  to  possess  the  local  areas,  perhaps 
high  on  the  mountains,  where  the  conditions  of  climate  or 
soil  are  unfavourable  for  the  growth  of  large  trees. 
Throughout  the  eastern  portion  of  the  United  States,  but 
more  especially  on  the  slopes  and  summit  portions  of  the 
Appalachians,  there  are  many  species  of  azalea,  laurel,  rho- 
dodendron, etc.,  which  grow  luxuriantly  and  in  spring  and 
early  summer  furnish  a  wealth  of  bloom  that  is  scarcely 
rivalled  elsewhere  on  the  continent.  In  this  same  region 
also,  but  extending  westward  t<>  Michigan  and  Minnesota, 
and  even  t<>  eastern  Nebraska,  grows  the  redbud  or  Judas- 
tree,  which  each   May  becomes  as  thickly  set   throughout 


234  NORTH    AMERICA 

all  its  branches  with  small  crimson  blossoms  as  are  the 
tree-like  coral  in  tropical  seas  with  expanded  polyps.  This 
beautiful  tree  of  low  growth  many  times  gives  to  the 
mountains  of  Virginia,  when  seen  from  a  distance,  a  deli- 
cate blush  like  that  which  the  osiers  earlier  in  the  spring 
impart  to  the  marshy  vales  and  river-banks.  A  companion 
of  the  redbud,  but  far  more  widely  distributed,  is  the  dog- 
wood or  cornel,  of  several  species,  the  most  conspicuous 
of  which,  and  in  the  Appalachian  region  the  most  com- 
mon, is  the  flowering  dogwood.  In  May  and  June  this 
species  puts  out  a  profusion  of  clusters  of  small  greenish 
flowers,  each  of  which  is  surrounded  by  a  broadly  expand- 
ed and  very  showy  corolla-like  involucre,  composed  of 
four  whil  e  or  pinkish  inversely  heart-shaped  leaves.  When 
the  cornel  is  at  the  height  of  its  spring-time  glory  it  stands 
forth  amid  the  tender  greens,  russets,  and  pinks  of  the 
unfolding  leaves  of  the  various  trees  and  shrubs  among 
which  it  grows  as  if  the  orchards  and  forests  had  been  com- 
mingled by  some  fairy  gardener.  In  autumn  the  cornel 
again  becomes  conspicuous  in  the  woodlands  by  reason  of 
its  clusters  of  coral-red  fruit. 

In  the  splendid  Atlantic  forests,  with  their  marvel- 
lous intermingling  of  shining  pine-needles,  broad,  swaying 
leaves,  and  many-coloured  trunks,  there  are  also  vines  and 
creepers  sometimes  forming  impenetrable  tangles,  as 
where  the  broad  leaves  of  the  wild  grape  grow  in  pendent 
sheets  of  green  from  supporting  trees,  or  the  jessamine 
fills  the  air  with  fragrance.  Of  the  many  vines  which 
entwine  the  trunks  of  trees,  mantle  the  rocks,  and  quickly 
claim  abandoned  fields,  especiallv  in  Virginia  and  neigh- 
bouring States  to  the  southward,  none  is  more  beautiful 
or  more  highly  prized  for  the  charm  it  adds  alike  to  fields, 
fences,  and  forests  than  the  familiar  Virginia  creeper.  The 
glory  of  this  widely  distributed  vine  comes  in  the  autumn 
when  its  leaves  change  from  green  to  the  most  brilliant 
scarlet.  During  the  season  of  harvest  also,  when  the  trees 
are  arrayed  in  their  greatest  splendour,  the  ground  is  yel- 
low with  golden-rods  or  purple  with  asters.  This  annual 
carnival  of  colour  embraces  the  entire  Atlantic  forest,  but 


PLANT    LIFE  235 

is  most  resplendent  in  the  region  of  the  Hudson  and  St. 
Lawrence.  A  charming  little  denizen  of  the  Atlantic  for- 
est is  the  lowly  and  humble  arbutus,  or  Mayflower,  which 
springs  up  through  the  dead  leaves  carpeting  the  ground 
in  early  spring,  and  fills  the  air  with  its  delicious  perfume. 
The  Mayflower  is  a  trailing  plant,  but  a  few  inches  high, 
with  rounded  or  oval  leaves,  which  remain  green  all  winter 
and  furnish  a  pleasing  setting  for  the  small  pink  or  rose- 
coloured  blossoms,  which  appear  in  early  spring  even 
before  the  snow  has  melted.  It  reaches  great  perfection 
beneath  the  pines  of  New  England  and  about  the  Lauren- 
tian  lakes,  but  extends  far  southward  along  the  Appa- 
lachians, where  elevation  gives  conditions  similar  to  those 
of  the  lower  region  at  the  north. 

The  Atlantic  forest  reaches  its  western  limit  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi basin  (Fig.  28),  and  is  succeeded  westward  by 
treeless  prairies,  which  merge  along  their  western  mar- 
gins with  the  drier  and  less  completely  grass-covered  high 
plains  adjacent  to  the  east  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
The  forest  does  not  terminate  abruptly,  as  on  the  border 
of  a  cleared  field,  but  by  gradual  transitions.  As  its  west- 
ern limit  is  approached,  a  change  in  the  species  is  noted, 
trees  which  thrive  on  uplands  and  can  sustain  long-con- 
tinued summer  drought  replacing  the  species  best  adapted 
for  more  humid  conditions.  The  forest  is  most  extended, 
however,  along  the  streams  where  white-trunked  cotton- 
woods,  frequently  of  great  size,  with  widely  spreading 
branches,  extend  even  into  the  region  of  the  great  pla- 
teaus. Much  of  the  prairie  region  in  Illinois,  Iowa, 
etc..  was  originally  nearly  surrounded  by  forest  growths. 
The  natural  condition  of  the  prairies  and  higher  plains 
adjacent  to  them  on  the  west  and  the  reason  for  the 
limits  set  to  the  western  extension  of  the  Atlantic  forest 
will  be  considered  later  under  the  heading  Prairies  ami 
Plateaus. 

The  Boreal  Purest. — From  Nova  Scotia,  Newfoundland, 
and  Labrador  a  forest  composed  mainly  of  a  few  species 
of  coniferous  trees  extends  westward,  and  after  passing 
the  southern  extremity  of  I  tudson  Bay,  is  prolonged  north- 


236  NORTH    AMERICA 

westward  across  the  continent  and  in  the  region  of  the 
month  of  the  Mackenzie  nearly  to  the  shore  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  It  extends  also  through  central  Alaska  to  within 
about  100  miles  of  the  border  of  Bering  Sea.  This  vast 
transverse  forest  belt  which  unites  the  northern  extremity 
of  the  Atlantic  forest  with  the  northern  portion  of  the 
Pacific  forest  is  over  3,000  miles  long  from  southeast  to 
northwest,  and  on  an  average  fully  600  miles  wide.  On 
the  north,  more  especially  in  arctic  Canada  and  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  shore  of  Bering  Sea,  it  thins  out,  owing  to 
the  severity  of  the  winter  climate,  the  trees  become 
dwarfed  and  stunted  in  much  the  same  way  as  the  trees 
adjacent  to  the  timber-line  on  high  mountains,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  the  broad  treeless  plains  of  the  Barren  Grounds 
and  tundra.  Along  its  south-central  border  its  extension 
is  again  limited  by  climatic  conditions,  principally  the  dry- 
ness of  the  hot  summers.  The  trees  are  there  scattered  or 
form  isolated  groves  to  the  south  of  the  general  forest 
boundary,  and  are  finally  succeeded  by  the  treeless  prairies 
and  interior  plains  and  plateaus.  On  the  east  the  great 
northern  forest  merges  with  the  pine  of  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  Atlantic  forest,  and  in  a  similar  way  at  the 
northwest  passes  by  insensible  gradations  into  the  north 
extension  of  the  coniferous  forest  growing  on  the  Pacific 
mountains.  In  each  of  the  instances  there  is  no  well-de- 
fined boundary  between  the  east  and  west  belt  of  northern 
forests  and  the  north  and  south  forest  belts  adjacent  to  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific. 

The  boreal  forest  presents  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
forests  of  the  torrid  zone  and  to  the  greater  portion  of  the 
forests  of  temperate  regions  in  the  fact  that  it  is  com- 
posed of  but  a  few  species  of  trees.  Monotony  which 
becomes  oppressive  to  one  who  lingers  long  in  its  sombre 
shade  is  its  most  conspicuous  characteristic.  In  the  main 
it  is  composed  of  but  eight  species  of  trees,  namely,  white 
and  black  spruce,  larch  or  tamarack,  canoe-birch,  balsam- 
poplar,  aspen,  balsam-fir,  and  the  gray  pine.  Of  these  the 
spruces  are  the  most  abundant  and  most  characteristic  as 
well  as  the  most  northern  trees  of  the  continent.     They 


PLANT    LIFE  237 

frequently  reach  sufficient  size  to  make  them  available 
for  building  log  houses  and  for  lumber. 

Four  of  the  species  mentioned  above,  namely,  the 
white  spruce,  canoe-birch,  balsam-poplar,  and  aspen,  cross 
the  entire  breadth  of  the  continent  from  Labrador  to 
Alaska,  but  the  pines  and  firs  in  the  east  and  the  west 
are  of  different  species.  The  larch  or  tamarack,  which 
forms  such  an  important  feature  of  the  forest  in  eastern 
Canada  and  about  the  Laurentian  lakes,  extends  westward 
to  beyond  Hudson  Bay,  but  is  represented  by  other  species 
in  the  Mackenzie  and  Yukon  basins,  and  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  Pacific  mountains.  The  region  occupied 
by  the  great  northern  forest  is  interspersed  with  lakes, 
some  of  them  of  large  size,  and  by  innumerable  swamps. 
The  spruces  and  the  gray  pine  grow  on  the  uplands  be- 
tween the  lakes  and  swamps,  while  the  cold,  wet  bottom- 
lands are  occupied  by  poplars,  dwarf  birches,  willows,  and 
alders.  In  the  north,  near  where  the  forest  breaks  into 
outstanding  groves  and  finally  gives  place  to  grassy  hills, 
as  along  the  Porcupine  River  in  Alaska,  the  foliage  in  the 
lowlands  becomes  golden  in  autumn  and  forms  irreg- 
ular, far-reaching  avenues  of  brilliant  colour  separating 
the  hills,  which  are  black  with  spruce-trees  or  shimmer 
with  the  soft  gray  tints  of  ripened  grasses.  There  is  much 
that  is  beautiful  and  even  lovely  along  the  poleward  bor- 
der of  the  great  forest,  but  within  its  deeper  recesses  the 
ground  is  covered  with  mosses  and  lichens,  and  the  stiff, 
sombre  trees  have  a  monotonous  similarity  and  unbend- 
ing rigidity. 

In  spite  of  the  great  area  covered  by  the  boreal  forest,  it 
being  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  most  widely  extended 
continuous  growth  of  arboreal  vegetation  in  the  world,  it  is 
of  comparatively  small  economic  importance.  Even  if  the 
trees  were  within  the  reach  of  a  market,  their  wood  is  of 
inferior  quality  and  not  generally  suitable  for  lumber.  A 
modern  industry  has  been  developed,  however,  which  may 

bring  it  into  demand,  namely,  the  manufacture  ot  w 1- 

pulp,  so  largel)  employed  in  the  making  of  paper  ami  for 
other  purposes. 


23S  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  Pacific  Forest. — In  the  northern  portion  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region  in  Canada  and  Alaska  the  boreal 
forest,  as  already  stated,  merges  by  insensible  gradations 
with  the  forests  occupying  the  Pacific  mountains  from 
Alaska  southward  to  Mexico.  The  junction  line  between 
the  two  is  irregular,  and  what  are  essentially  outliers  of 
the  more  northern  forest  occupy  the  higher  portions  of  the 
mountains  in  the  western  portion  of  the   United   States. 

The  Pacific  forest  begins  at  the  north  near  Mount  St. 
Elias,  and  at  first  occurs  on  isolated  areas  separated  by  ice- 
fields and  inland  reaches  of  the  ocean,  but  in  southeastern 
Alaska  and  on  the  numerous  islands  adjacent  becomes 
more  continuous  and  extends  eastward  far  into  British 
Columbia.  As  the  timber-line  in  that  region  has  an  eleva- 
tion of  but  2,500  feet  at  the  extreme  western  extension  of 
the  forest,  although  gradually  rising  southward,  large  por- 
tions of  the  mountains  are  treeless  and  barren.  In  the 
United  States,  on  account  of  increasing  dryness  of  the  val- 
leys from  north  to  south,  the  forest  becomes  broken  into 
many  detached  portions,  which  occupy  the  mountains  and 
higher  plateaus  and  in  general  are  restricted  to  higher  and 
higher  locations  with  decrease  in  latitude.  This  distribu- 
tion illustrates  in  a  striking  manner  the  dependence  of  trees 
on  humidity.  The  forest  is  densest  and  the  trees  in  general 
of  greatest  size  and  occur  at  the  lowest  elevations  on  the 
northwest  portion  of  the  Pacific  coastal  region,  where  the 
rainfall  is  excessive  and  distributed  practically  throughout 
the  entire  year.  The  Coast  Ranges  from  Alaska  southward 
to  central  California,  as  well  as  the  Cascade  Mountains 
and  Sierra  Nevada,  are  tree-clothed.  In  the  interior,  and 
especially  in  the  central  and  southern  portion  of  the  Pacific 
cordillera,  where  the  valleys  are  hot  and  dry  in  summer, 
trees  are  absent,  and  even  the  borders  of  the  rivers  in 
many  instances  without  shade.  In  Canada  the  trees  fre- 
quently extend  across  the  lowlands,  but  in  Montana  and 
Idaho  the  valleys  resemble  the  treeless  plains  to  the  east 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  while  the  uplands  and  the  lower 
mountain  slopes  are  dark  with  firs  and  pines.  Above  the 
forest  rise  the  barren  and  frequently  perpetually  snow-cov- 


PLANT    LIFE  239 

ered  summit-peaks  and  ridges.  In  the  Great  Basin  region, 
and  from  there  southward,  many  of  the  mountains  are  prac- 
tically destitute  of  trees  from  base  to  summit. 

So  vast  is  the  region  occupied  by  the  Pacific  forest 
and  so  varied  the  conditions  dependent  upon  climate,  soil, 
and  elevation  which  influence  its  growth,  that  great  varia- 
tions in  the  genera  and  species  of  trees  composing  it  are 
to  be  expected.  This  prediction  is  soon  verified  when  one 
travels  through  the  forest.  The  extremes  may  be  indicated 
briefly  by  referring  to  the  fact  that  at  the  north  the  trees 
are  mainly  spruces,  firs,  and  cedars,  and  at  the  south  include 
the  giant  cactus,  arboreal  yucca,  and  the  fan-leafed  palm. 
In  its  medial  division  are  the  great  forests  of  western 
Washington  and  Oregon,  composed  mainly  of  firs  and 
cedars,  and  the  no  less  magnificent  forests  of  redwood- 
trees  on  the  Coast  Ranges  of  northern  California  and  the 
west  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  Like  the  boreal  forest, 
the  one  under  consideration  is  largely  composed  of  conif- 
erous trees,  although  in  the  valley,  and  especially  along 
the  borders  of  streams  in  southern  Canada,  Washington, 
etc..  a  few  species  of  broad-leaved  trees,  such  as  the  maple, 
cottonwood,  ash,  and  alder,  thrive  in  close  association  with 
dark  conifers;  while  in  similar  situations  farther  south  oaks 
growing  in  scattered  groves  give  a  park-like  character  to 
the  land,  as  in  the  southern  portion  of  California. 

In  contrast  with  the  Atlantic  region,  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  continental  forest  belt  is  singularly  lacking  in 
broad-leaved  trees,  and  such  as  are  found  are  usually  of 
small  size  and  but  little  economic  importance.  This  lack, 
however,  is  perhaps  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the 
number  both  of  individuals  and  of  species  and  the  great 
size  and  magnificence  of  the  conifers. 

I  >ne  ctf  1  lie  densest  and  in  many  ways  most  thoroughly 
representative  portions  of  the  Pacific  forest  where  it  occu- 
pies .an  excessively  humid  region  occurs  <>n  the  west  side 
nf  the  Cascade  Mountains  in  Washington,  inclusive  of  the 
Pugel  Sound  basin  and  tin-  region  t<>  the  westward  from 
which  rise  the  (  Hympic  Mountains. 

In  western  Washington  tlie  foresl  is  composed  mainly, 


240  NORTH    AMERICA 

and,  in  fact,  over  large  areas,  almost  entirely  of  two  spe- 
cies of  trees,  namely,  the  reel  fir  and  the  red  cedar,  each  of 
which  attains  gigantic  dimensions.  Of  these  two  species, 
the  first  is  the  more  common,  the  larger,  and  by  far  the 
more  important  from  a  commercial  point  of  view.  It  fre- 
quently, and,  in  fact,  commonly,  attains  a  height  of  from 
200  to  300  feet,  with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of  from  8  to  10 
or  more  feet.  Not  only  do  these  magnificent  trees  reach 
such  great  dimensions,  but  they  are  thickly  set  over  hun- 
dreds of  square  miles  of  territory.  In  thousands  of  in- 
stances the  great  trunks  sheathed  in  rough  thick  bark 
rise  straight  and  massive,  with  but  a  slight  decrease  in 
diameter,  to  a  height  of  upward  of  80  feet  before  the 
first  branch  is  given  off.  The  cedars,  the  intimate  com- 
panions of  the  great  firs,  are  of  equally  gigantic  girth  at 
the  base,  but  taper  rapidly  to  spire-like  summits,  usually 
from  100  to  150  feet  above  the  ground,  and  are  thickly  set 
with  small  branches  throughout.  They  flourish  best  in 
excessively  moist  situations  and  reach  far  up  the  moun- 
tains, particularly  along  the  numerous  watercourses;  while 
the  firs,  although  perhaps  most  at  home  on  the  less  thor- 
oughly water-soaked  uplands,  thrive  on  the  banks  of 
streams,  the  sides  and  summits  of  hills,  and  on  steep  moun- 
tainsides alike. 

Mere  enumeration  of  the  number  and  size  of  the  trees, 
however,  fails  to  give  an  adequate  impression  of  the  aston- 
ishing magnificence  of  the  wonderful  forest  of  the  Puget 
Sound  region.  Its  grandeur  is  beyond  description,  and 
can  only  be  fully  appreciated  by  one  who  abides  for  weeks 
or  months  in  its  perpetual  twilight.  The  great  trees, 
shaggy  with  mosses  and  lichens  of  innumerable  tints  of 
brown,  green,  and  yellow,  do  not  form  detached  groves, 
as  is  so  frequently  the  case  in  less  humid  lands,  but  are 
thickly  set  for  mile  after  mile  and  league  after  league,  as 
one  threads  his  difficult  way  beneath  them.  So  vast  is  the 
forest  that  a  person  travelling  through  it  soon  becomes 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  is  interminable.  Beneath 
the  deep  shade  of  the  lofty  boughs  there  is  a  rank  under- 
growth of  young  firs,  cedars,  and  hemlocks,  while  in  the 


PLANT    LIFE 


241 


valleys  especially,  and  on  the  frequently  inundated  flood- 
plains  of  the  streams,  there  is  usually  a  tangled  growth  of 
vine-like  maples,  alders,  elders,  yews,  etc.  In  this  lower 
forest  the  most  conspicuous  and  frequently  too  abundant 
plant  is  the  broad-leaved  and  ex- 
cessively spiny  devil's-club,  the 
foliage  of  which  changes  to  brill- 
iant yellow  in  the  early  autumn, 
and  forms  a  most  artistic  setting 
for  the  spikes  of  crimson  fruit 
borne  at  the  extremities  of  the 
upward-bending  ends  of  the  usu- 
ally prostrate  stems. 

Of  still  more  lowly  habits  are 
the  ferns,  mosses,  and  lichens 
which  form  a  thick,  luxuriant, 
and  ever-varied  carpet  over  the 
black  humus  soil  beneath.  The 
ground  throughout  the  forest  is 
encumbered  with  fallen  trunks, 
sometimes  piled  one  on  another 
to  the  depth  of  20  or  30  feet, 
which,  owing  to  the  continuous 
moisture,  remain  undecayed  for 
centuries.  Not  infrequently  a 
massive  cedar  or  fir,  in  size  and 
shape  not  unlike  a  prostrate  col- 
umn of  some  great  temple,  sup- 
ports three  or  more  trees,  each 
large  enough  to  be  cut  for  lum- 
ber, whose  gnarled  and  twisted 
root-  clasp  the  sides  of  their  host 
and  descend  to  the  earth  beneath. 
The  be;mt_\'  of  these  fallen  giants 
when  overgrown  with  thick  lay- 
ers of  variegated  moss  and  exquisitely  decorated  with  hun- 
dreds of  small  hemlocks  and  a  multitude  of  gracefully  bend 
ing  fern-fronds,  always  fresh  in  colour  and  usually  beaded 
with  moisture,  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  mosl  skilful  artist 


Fig.  29.— Douglas  Firs, 

Vancouver,    H.  C. 


242  NORTH    AMERICA 

to  adequately  portray.  The  fascination  of  the  great  forest  is 
such  that  the  explorer,  although  perhaps  weary  with  forcing 
a  passage  through  the  dense  undergrowths  and  climbing  over 
prostrate  trunks,  is  lured  by  its  charms  into  more  and  more 
inaccessible  retreats  probably  never  before  invaded  by  man, 
but  at  last  finding  that  the  wonderland  has  no  attainable  lim- 
its, is  content  to  rest  on  some  inviting  couch  erf  golden- 
tinted  lichens  and  study  the  varied  charms  and  endless 
details  of  the  dream-like  picture  surrounding  him. 

From  a  commercial  point  of  view  the  forest  of  the 
Puget  Sound  region  is  of  immense  importance.  Lumber 
industries  have  been  established  there,  with  the  most  im- 
proved appliances  for  cutting  trees,  transporting  the  logs 
to  mills,  and  sawing  them  into  lumber,  much  of  which  is 
loaded  on  ships  and  widely  distributed.  So  vast  is  the  for- 
est, however,  that  as  yet  the  natural  conditions  are  but 
slightly  changed,  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  tide- 
water, but  the  destruction  from  axe  and  fire  has  only  been 
begun;  the  waste  that,  no  doubt,  is  to  continue  is  most 
disheartening. 

Another  centre  in  the  vast  and  locally  differentiated 
Pacific  forest,  as  typical  in  its  way  as  are  the  dense  growths 
of  fir  and  cedar  just  referred  to,  occurs  on  the  Coast  Range 
of  north  California,  where  the  redwood  (Sequoia  sempervi- 
rens)  is  the  all-important  and  characteristic  tree.  This  red- 
wood forest  begins  at  the  south  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  extends  northward,  mainly  on  the  moist  sea- 
ward slopes  of  the  Coast  Ranges,  to  southwestern  Oregon, 
but  seldom  reaches  more  than  30  miles  inland. 

The  redwood  resembles  the  cedar  in  habit,  general 
appearance,  character  of  its  wood,  and  colour  of  bark  and 
leaves.  It  flourishes  best  in  moist  localities,  and  attains  a 
great  size,  surpassing  in  height  and  diameter  of  stem  even 
the  giant  firs  of  Washington,  and  is  only  exceeded  on  this 
continent  by  its  cousin,  the  great  sequoia  (Sequoia  gigautea) 
of  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  in  south-central 
California.  It  frequently  attains  a  height  of  300  or  more 
feet,  with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of  15  or  16,  and  in  certain 
exceptional  instances  of  over  20  feet.     It  rarely  branches 


PLANT    LIFE 


■T 


low.  but  almost  invariably  has  a  straight,  fluted  stem,  per- 
fectly symmetrical,  rising  with  a  slight  taper  for  about  200 
feet  to  the  first  limb.  The  foliage  is  dull  green  in  colour, 
fine,  and  drooping.  It  is  a  most  beautiful  tree  both  in 
form  and  colour,  and  is  markedly  gregarious  in  habit.  As 
stated  by  Henry  Gannett,  it 
forms  the  densest  forest 
known  if  the  comparison  is 
made  on  the  basis  of  the 
amount  of  merchantable 
lumber  growing  on  a  given 
unit  of  area.  For  example, 
the  yellow-pine  forests  of 
the  Southern  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  States  contain  on  an 
average  about  5,000  feet, 
board  measure  (square  feet 
of  boards  an  inch  thick), 
of  timber  per  acre,  and  in 
the  moderately  dense  por- 
tion of  the  white-pine  for- 
ests of  the  Great  Lakes  re- 
gion the  average  is  about 

the  same.  In  each  of  these  regions,  famed  for  their  lumber, 
a  tract  containing  10,000  feet  of  lumber  per  acre  would  be 
considered  as  heavily  forested.  In  the  redwood  forests  of 
California,  however,  50,000  feet  of  lumber  per  acre  is  not 
rare  over  extensive  areas,  while  for  special  tracts  containing 
many  square  miles  this  estimate  may  safely  be  doubled. 
Upon  96.443  acres  in  Humboldt  County.  California,  the 
average  amount  of  lumber  contained  in  the  trees  still  stand- 
ing is  84,000  feet  per  acre.  The  returns  of  lumber  com- 
panies during  a  continuous  period  of  ten  years  from  tracts 
which  have  been  cleared  show  a  return  of  75.000  to 
100,000  feet  per  acre,  but  even  this  is  nol  the  maximum.  A 
certain  tract  of  several  square  miles  actually  yielded  150,000 
feel  per  acre:  and  there  is  on  record  a  yield  of  c,43I>53°  ^'c{ 
from  a  -ingle  acre.  ( >ne  tree  1-  said  to  have  furnished  66,500 
feet  of  lumber,  and  another,  15  feel  in  diameter  at  the  base, 


Fig.  30. — Redwood  Forest, 
California. 


244  NORTH    AMERICA 

contained  1 00,000  feet.  Another  tree,  still  standing,  meas- 
ures 22  feet  in  diameter,  and  it  is  estimated  will  yield  200,000 
square  feet  of  boards  an  inch  thick. 

The  wood  of  the  redwood-tree  is  of  a  clear  red  colour 
with  the  exception  of  a  thin  layer  just  under  the  bark, 
which  is  almost  pure  white,  and  is  light,  soft,  coarse- 
grained, and  susceptible  of  a  high  polish.  It  is  the  most 
common  and  most  valuable  of  all  the  forest  products  of 
the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America,  and  is  serviceable  for 
a  great  variety  of  purposes. 

The  celebrated  "  big  trees  "  of  California  are  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  redwood  described  above,  but  belong 
to  a  different  species  of  the  same  genus.  The  big  trees 
are  worthy  of  their  name,  as  they  are  by  far  the  largest  in 
North  America.  When  full  grown  they  average  about  275 
feet  in  height,  with  a  diameter  near  the  ground  of  about 
20  feet.  One  of  the  tallest  as  yet  measured  has  a  height 
of  325  feet,  and  the  largest  a  diameter  of  35  feet  8  inches 
inside  the  bark  and  4  feet  above  the  ground.  The  age  of 
one  of  these  giants,  as  shown  by  the  number  of  rings  of 
growth  in  its  trunk,  is  about  thirteen  hundred  years;  an- 
other, 24  feet  in  diameter,  is  twenty-two  hundred  years  old; 
and  a  third  showed  over  fonr  thousand  rings  of  growth, 
and  must  have  been  in  its  prime  at  the  time  of  the  birth 
of  Christ.  The  trees  occur  in  detached  groves  on  the  west- 
ern slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  in  sonth-central  California, 
but  become  more  common  southward,  where  they  form  a 
genuine  forest  belt.  Their  range  from  north  to  south  is 
about  260  miles,  and  their  elevation  above  the  sea  from 
6,000  to  8,000  feet. 

"  So  exquisitely  harmonious."  says  John  Muir,  in  his 
charming  book  The  Mountains  of  California,  "  and  finely 
balanced  are  even  the  verv  mightiest  of  these  monarchs 
of  the  woods  in  all  their  proportions  and  circumstances, 
that  there  is  never  anything  overgrown  or  monstrons 
about  them.  On  coming  in  sight  of  them  for  the  first  time, 
you  are  likely  to  say,  '  Oh,  see  what  beautiful,  noble-look- 
ing trees  are  towering  there  among  the  firs  and  pines!  ' 
their  grandeur  being  in  the  meantime  in  great  part  invis- 


PLANT    LIFE  245 

ible.  but  to  the  living  eye  it  will  be  manifest  sooner  or 
later,  stealing  slowly  on  the  senses  like  the  grandeur  of 
Niagara  or  the  lofty  Yosemite  domes.  Their  great  size 
is  hidden  from  the  inexperienced  observer  as  long  as  they 
are  seen  at  a  distance  in  one  harmonious  view.  When, 
however,  you  approach  them  and  walk  around  them,  you 
begin  to  wonder  at  their  colossal  size  and  seek  a  meas- 
uring-rod. These  giants  bulge  considerably  at  the  base, 
but  not  more  than  is  required  for  beauty  and  safety;  and 
the  only  reason  that  this  bulging  seems  in  some  cases 
excessive  is  that  only  a  comparatively  small  section  of  the 
shaft  is  seen  at  once  in  near  views.  One  that  I  measured 
in  the  King's  River  forest  was  25  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
ground  and  10  feet  in  diameter  200  feet  above  the  ground, 
showing  that  the  taper  of  the  trunk  as  a  whole  is  charm- 
ingly fine.  And  when  you  stand  back  far  enough  to  see 
the  massive  columns  from  the  swelling  instep  to  the  lofty 
summit  dissolving  in  a  dome  of  verdure,  you  rejoice  in 
the  unrivalled  display  of  combined  grandeur  and  beauty. 
About  100  feet  or  more  of  the  trunk  is  usually  branchless, 
but  its  massive  simplicity  is  relieved  by  the  bark  furrows, 
which,  instead  of  making  an  irregular  network,  run  evenly 
parallel,  like  the  fluting  of  an  architectural  column,  and 
to  some  extent  by  tufts  of  slender  sprays  that  wave  lightly 
in  the  winds  and  cast  flecks  of  shade,  seeming  to  have  been 
pinned  on  here  and  there  for  the  sake  of  beauty  only.  The 
young  trees  have  slender  simple  branches  down  to  the 
ground,  put  on  with  strict  regularity,  sharply  aspiring  at 
the  top,  horizontal  about  half-way  down,  and  drooping  in 
handsome  curves  at  the  base.  By  the  time  the  sapling  is 
five  or  six  hundred  years  old  this  spiry,  feathery,  juvenile 
habit  merges  into  a  firm,  rounded  dome  form  of  middle 
age,  which  in  turn  takes  on  the  eccentric  picturesqueness 
of  old  age.  No  other  tree  in  the  Sierra  forest  has  foliage 
so  densely  massed  or  presents  outlines  so  firmly  drawn 
and  so  steadily  subordinate  to  a  special  type.  .  .  .  The 
foliage  of  the  saplings-  is  dark  bluish  green  in  colour,  while 
the  older  trees  ripen  to  a  warm   brownish  yellow   tint,   like 

Libocedrus.     The  bark  is  rich  crimson  brown,  purplish  in 
17 


246  NORTH    AMERICA 

young  trees  and  in  shady  portions  of  the  old,  while  the 
ground  is  covered  with  brown  leaves  and  burrs  forming 
colour  masses  of  extraordinary  richness,  not  to  mention 
the  flowers  and  underbrush  that  rejoice  about  them  in  their 
season.  Walk  in  the  sequoia  woods  at  any  time  of  year, 
and  you  will  say  they  are  the  most  beautiful  and  majestic 
on  earth.  Beautiful  and  impressive  contrasts  meet  you 
everywhere;  the  colours  of  tree  and  flowers,  rock  and  sky, 
light  and  shade,  strength  and  frailty,  endurance  and  eva- 
nescence, tangles  of  supple  hazel-bushes,  tree  pillars  about 
as  rigid  as  granite  domes,  roses  and  violets  the  smallest 
of  their  kind,  blooming  around  the  feet  of  the  giants. 
Then  in  winter  the  trees  themselves  break  forth  in  bloom, 
myriads  of  small  four-sided  staminate  cones  crowd  the  ends 
of  the  slender  sprays,  colouring  the  whole  tree,  and  when 
ripe  dusting  the  air  and  ground  with  golden  pollen." 

Owing  to  the  remoteness  of  the  big  trees  from  com- 
mercial centres,  they  have  escaped  to  a  great  extent  the 
destruction  which  everywhere  attends  the  advent  of  the 
white  man,  and  some  of  the  finest  groves  are  now  under 
state  protection. 

The  sequoias  are  not  only  of  interest  on  account  of 
their  great  size  and  grandeur,  but  from  the  fact  that  they 
are  the  lingering  survivors  of  an  ancient  and  once  widely 
distributed  genus.  During  the  Cretaceous  and  Tertiary 
divisions  of  geological  history  the  genus  numbered  at  least 
50  species,  as  has  been  shown  by  leaf  impressions,  fossil 
wood,  and  cones  buried  in  the  rocks  of  New  Zealand  and 
Chile  on  the  south,  Spitzbergen  and  Greenland  on  the 
north.  Over  North  America  they  extend  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific.  At  present  the  only  two  species 
known,  both  of  which,  as  already  stated,  are  confined  to 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  slight  exten- 
sion of  the  less  gigantic  of  the  two  into  southwestern  Ore- 
gon, are  found  only  in  California. 

While  the  firs,  cedars,  and  redwoods  form  the  major 
portion  of  the  forests  in  the  more  humid  regions  on  the 
western  side  of  the  continent,  there  are  two  species  of 
pines  growing  in  drier  situations  which  in  a  general  view 


PLANT    LIFE  247 

are  even  more  characteristic  of  the  Pacific  forest  than  are 
the  sequoias.  These  two  pines,  well  worthy  to  stand  side  by 
side  with  the  giant  firs  and  still  more  gigantic  redwoods,  are 
known  as  the  sugar-pine  and  the  yellow  pine. 

The  sugar-pine  grows  amid  the  mountains  from  south- 
western British  Columbia,  southward  through  western 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  on  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast 
Ranges  of  California,  at  elevations  ranging  from  4.000  to 
8,000  feet.  It  frequently  clothes  steep  declivities  or  bids 
defiance  to  the  storms  on  the  crests  of  sharp  ridges.  In 
size  it  is  scarcely  exceeded  by  any  of  its  companions  ex- 
cepting the  firs  and  sequoias.  It  frequently  attains  a  height 
of  from  200  to  275  feet,  with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of 
from  8  to  14,  and  in  some  instances  of  over  20  feet.  Indi- 
vidual trees  are  known  which  have  a  height  of  245  feet  and 
are  18  feet  in  diameter.  The  branches  are  usually  high 
above  the  ground  and  widely  spreading.  In  the  case  of 
well-grown  individuals  they  leave  the  main  trunk  with  a 
sweeping,  downward  curve,  which  midway  out  changes  to 
an  upward  curve,  and  at  the  extreme  distal  end  droops  once 
more.  At  the  extremity  of  many  of  the  far-reaching  boughs 
there  are  suspended  one  or  two  cones,  each  12  or  14  inches 
long  and  sometimes  over  8  inches  in  diameter.  The  pecul- 
iar and  frequently  remarkably  regular  curvature  of  the 
great  branches,  giving  them  the  form  of  half  a  Cupid's 
bow,  imparts  to  these  mighty  pines  a  grace  and  symmetry 
possessed  by  few  other  trees.  The  familiar  name  of  this 
great  pine  refers  to  the  fact  that  from  wounds  or  incisions 
in  its  trunk  there  exudes  a  sweet  sap  which  is  considered 
by  many  persons  to  exceed  even  the  sap  of  the  maple  in 
agreeableness  of  flavour. 

Lovers  of  beautiful  trees  will  agree  in  considering  the 
sugar-pine  as  the  noblest  of  its  family  growing  in  the 
woods  of  America,  if  not  the  most  majestic  of  its  kindred 
in  the  world.  Its  only  rival,  but  of  a  different  type  of 
beauty,  is  the  Norfolk  [sland  pine,  of  tin-  south  sea  islands. 

(  If  the  many  pleasant  memories  of  camp  life  in  the  for- 
ests of  America  which  arc  a  source  of  delighl  to  the  writer 
none  are   recalled   with   greater  pleasure   than   those  asso- 


24S  NORTH    AMERICA 

dated  with  the  sugar-pine  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  where 
the  ground  is  carpeted  with  the  long  brown  needles  that 
fall  in  showers  at  certain  seasons  from  the  boughs  far  over- 
head. With  the  faded  leaves  are  strewed  also  the  great 
cones  which  always  excite  wonder  and  admiration.  In  the 
clear  air  and  brilliant  sunlight  of  the  Calif ornian  mountains 
the  luxuriant  plume-like  leaves  far  aloft  appear  to  be 
formed  of  burnished  silver  or  have  the  yellow  of  gold, 
according  as  the  light  strikes  them,  and  at  night  the 
lofty  boughs  swayed  by  the  winds  make  music  such  as  no 
other  forest  can  produce.  Nothing  in  the  vegetable  world, 
not  even  the  great  sequoias,  convey  such  an  abiding  im- 
pression of  strength  and  majesty  as  these  pines  which  have 
withstood  the  storms  of  centuries  without  losing  their  vig- 
our or  their  symmetry  and  beauty  of  form.  Unfortunately 
as  it  would  seem,  however,  these  magnificent  trees  are  use- 
ful, as  the  term  is  commonly  employed,  and  are  fast  falling 
a  prev  to  lumbermen,  who  measure  their  value  in  dollars. 

The  yellow  pine  of  the  Pacific  mountains,  not  to  be 
confounded,  however,  with  the  yellow  pine  of  the  southern 
Appalachian  region,  fortunately  has  another  common 
name,  the  silver  pine,  which  is  more  appropriate  and  dis- 
tinctive. This  is  the  most  widely  spread,  perhaps,  of  all 
the  pines  of  North  America,  and  is  familiar  to  every  one 
who  has  travelled  through  the  Pacific  mountains  from  Brit- 
ish Columbia  to  Mexico,  and  from  the  Black  Hills  of  Da- 
kota or  the  mountains  of  Colorado  and  New  Mexico  west- 
ward to  within  hearing  of  the  surf  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
It  ranks  second  in  size  to  the  sugar-pine,  but  is  a  near  rival 
in  strength  and  nobleness  of  form.  As  might  be  inferred 
from  its  wide  distribution,  the  silver  pine  had  adapted 
itself  to  a  great  range  of  conditions,  not  only  of  climate, 
but  of  soil  and  height  above  the  sea.  It  is  found  from  an 
elevation  of  about  2,000  feet  above  the  sea  up  the  moun- 
tainsides nearly  to  timber-line,  and  flourishes  alike  in  the 
hot,  arid  valleys  and  in  regions  bordering  on  perpetual 
snow  and  ice.  One  beautiful  feature  of  the  silver-pine  for- 
ests is  their  open,  park-like  character.  The  trees  stand  far 
apart,  and  thus  have  room  to  reach  not  only  a  great  size, 


PLANT    LIFE  249 

but  a  remarkable  degree  of  perfection  of  form.  Between 
the  islands  of  shade  on  the  sunlit  ground  there  is  usually 
but  little  undergrowth,  and  the  far-extending  natural  pas- 
tures permit  one  to  ride  in  any  direction  without  incon- 
venience. 

One  other  pine  of  the  widely  extended  Pacific  forest 
demands  attention  even  from  the  passing  traveller,  not  on 
account  of  its  size,  for  it  is  a  dwarf  in  a  land  of  giants,  but 
for  its  wide  distribution  and  the  food  its  large,  oily  seeds 
furnish  for  birds,  squirrels,  and  even  for  man.  I  refer  to 
the  pirion  pine,  of  which  there  are  several  species.  They 
are  seldom  over  35  or  40  feet  high,  and  are  not  remark- 
able for  beauty,  although  they  furnish  an  agreeable  feature 
in  the  sparsely  forest-clothed  and  semiarid  region  where 
they  thrive  best,  but  they  bear  a  profusion  of  small  cones, 
each  of  which  contains  perhaps  a  dozen  edible  and  nutri- 
tious seeds.  These  seeds  were  formerly  used  by  the  In- 
dians for  food  on  an  extensive  scale,  and  are  still  gathered 
in  large  quantities,  and  may  be  found  in  the  markets  of  our 
cities.  The  Indian  encampments  in  the  pinon  forests  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  are  among  the  most  picturesque  fea- 
tures of  these  degenerate  days  of  the  aborigines. 

In  the  southwest  portions  of  the  United  States  the  for- 
ests are  confined  to  the  mountains  and  the  higher  table- 
lands, the  hot,  arid  valleys  being  without  trees  other  than 
the  larger  growths  of  cacti  and  yucca.  Similar  conditions 
are  present  in  northern  Mexico,  but  on  the  western  side 
of  that  republic  and  throughout  practically  the  whole  of 
the  peninsula  of  Lower  California  the  mountains  and  val- 
leys alike  are  treeless  and  desolate. 

As  stated  by  C.  S.  Sargent,  the  forests  of  North  America, 
exclusive  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West  In- 
dies, contain  arboreal  representatives  of  [58  genera  oi 
plants,  of  which  94  genera  occur  in  the  Atlantic  and  59  in 
the  Pacific  side  of  the  continent,  and  48  genera  in  the  trop- 
ical portion  of  southern  Florida.  Of  the  number  of  gen- 
era of  trees  in  the  Caribbean  forest  we  have  no  reliable 
census. 


250  NORTH    AMERICA 

PRAIRIES,    TREELESS    PLAINS,    AND    PLATEAUS 

To  the  west  of  the  Atlantic  forest  lie  the  broad  natural 
meadows  termed  prairies,  and  still  farther  west  the  yet 
more  extensive  pasture-lands  of  the  great  plateaus  which 
reach  the  eastern  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  (Fig.  28). 
The  transition  from  the  luxuriant  and  varied  forest  on 
the  east  to  the  treeless,  thinly  grass-covered  plateaus  on 
the  west  side  of  the  interior  Continental  basin  is  grad- 
ual. The  change  occurs  in  the  prairie  region,  where  a 
struggle  has  been  in  progress  for  thousands  of  years 
between  the  conditions  favouring  and  those  adverse  to 
tree  growth.  The  balance  of  power,  so  to  speak,  is  the 
amount  of  rain  or  of  soil-stored  moisture  during  the  sum- 
mer season.  The  gradual  decrease  in  the  mean  annual 
precipitation  from  east  to  west  on  the  inland  border  of 
the  Atlantic  forest  continues  westward,  and  on  the  plateaus 
adjacent  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  the  aridity  is  such  that 
no  trees  can  grow  except  along  the  immediate  border  of 
the  stream,  unless  artificially  irrigated. 

The  explanation  of  the  absence  of  trees  in  the  central 
and  western  portions  of  the  interior  Continental  basin  is 
found  in  the  mean  annual  rainfall  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  distributed  throughout  the  year,  together  with  varia- 
tions in  the  texture  and  composition  of  the  soil,  and  the 
disturbances  in  the  natural  conditions  brought  about  by 
fires.  The  question,  "  Why  are  the  prairies  treeless?  "  has 
been  variously  answered  by  different  observers.  The  out- 
come of  a  long  discussion  in  this  connection  seems  to  be 
that  the  main  cause  of  the  absence  of  trees  lies  in  the  cli- 
matic conditions  and  principally  in  the  lack  of  sufficient 
rain  during  the  long,  hot  summers.  Arid  regions  the 
world  over  are  without  forests,  but  the  Prairie  plains  can- 
not be  said  to  be  arid;  in  fact,  the  mean  annual  rainfall 
over  the  greater  portion  of  this  region  is  equal  to  or 
exceeds  that  of  many  well-forested  countries,  averaging 
as  it  does  in  general  about  30  inches.  But  the  prairies  lie 
between  the  more  humid  forest-covered  regions  on  the 
east  and  the  less  humid  or  subarid  plateaus  on  the  west, 


PLANT    LIFE  251 

and  during  the  summer  season  droughts  and  hot,  scorch- 
ing winds  are  of  common  occurrence.  It  is  the  long  dry 
summer  that  establishes  the  critical  conditions,  particularly 
about  the  eastern  and  northern  borders  of  the  prairies.  Of 
secondary  importance  is  the  character  of  the  soil.  An 
exceedingly  fine  soil,  like  that  of  the  prairies,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  by  J.  D.  Whitney,  by  excluding  the  air  from 
the  roots  of  trees  is  detrimental  to  their  growth.  Where 
the  dryness  of  the  summers  make  the  lives  of  trees  pre- 
carious the  nature  of  the  soil,  whether  coarse  or  fine,  be- 
comes the  controlling  factor.  In  the  prairie  region  where 
the  soil  is  more  open  and  porous  than  usual,  although 
other  conditions  remain  the  same,  as  in  the  Cross  Timbers 
of  Texas,  trees  flourish;  while  intervening  areas  where  the 
soil  is  fine  are  typical  prairies.  Again,  where  the  climatic 
conditions  become  critical,  as  during  long,  dry  summers, 
the  grass  and  other  vegetation  burns  readily,  fire  spreads 
rapidly  and  widely,  and  young  trees  are  destroyed.  In 
the  prairie  region,  as  pointed  out  by  J.  W.  Powell,  the 
Indians  were  formerly  in  the  habit  of  burning  the  grass 
each  summer  in  order  to  insure  more  favorable  pasturage 
for  game  during  the  succeeding  spring.  This  annual  burn- 
ing kept  back  the  forest  and  led  to  the  eastward  extension 
of  the  prairie. 

During  the  past  decade  many  groves  have  been  planted 
on  the  prairies,  and  have  flourished,  especially  when  the 
adjacent  fields  are  cultivated  so  as  to  allow  the  earth  to 
store  a  larger  share  of  the  winter  rain;  the  success  of  this 
tree  planting,  it  has  been  claimed,  is  evidence  that  the 
nature  of  the  soil  is  not  a  determining  factor  in  the  prob- 
lem, because  trees  will  grow  if  protected  from  tire.  The 
success  of  arboriculture  on  the  formerly  treeless  plains  and 
plateaus,  however,  decreases  as  one  travels  westward.  <  hi 
the  western  border  of  the  prairies  and  on  the  greal  pla- 
teaus, remote  from  streams,  trees  ran  be  made  to  grow 
only  by  the  aid  of  irrigation.  If  this  region  had  never 
been  swept  by  fire  it  i^  safe  to  say  it  would  still  be  tree- 
less. Bach  of  tin-  explanations  referred  to  above  i" 
account   for  the   treeless   condition   oi    the   prairies— one 


252  NORTH    AMERICA 

referring  it  to  soil  conditions,  and  the  other  to  the  former 
prevalence  of  fires — certainly  has  much  in  its  favour,  and 
for  certain  localities  seems  satisfactory,  but  each  point  of 
view  should  include  a  broader  range  and  recognise  the  fact 
that  the  requisite  critical  conditions  have  been  furnished 
by  wide-reaching  climatic  causes.  The  Prairie  plains  fur- 
nish but  one  phase  of  the  gradual  change  that  occurs  in 
the  natural  mantle  of  vegetation  when  traced  from  the 
dense,  well-watered  forests  of  the  Appalachians  and  the 
Alleghany  plateau  westward  to  the  semiarid  and  truly 
arid  lands  of  the  great  plateaus  and  Rocky  Mountain 
region,  where  only  such  plants  as  are  able  to  withstand 
long-continued  drought  can  grow.  This  same  broad  con- 
clusion is  sustained  also  at  the  north,  where  the  prairie 
dovetails,  as  it  were,  with  the  subarctic  forest. 

The  general  or  underlying  reason  for  the  treeless  con- 
dition of  the  vast  central  portion  of  the  continent  is  doubt- 
less a  lack  of  sufficient  rain.  The  precipitation  that  does 
occur  comes  mainly  during  the  winter  season,  when  the 
land  is  colder  than  the  ocean;  in  summer  the  land  becomes 
highly  heated  and  imparts  its  temperature  to  the  air,  which 
thus  has  its  capacity  for  moisture  increased,  and  prolonged 
droughts  occur.  At  the  south,  in  Mexico  and  the  adja- 
cent portion  of  the  United  States,  the  trade-winds  blow 
over  a  region  which  is  more  highly  heated  than  the  ocean 
from  which  they  come,  and  are  hence  drying  winds.  To 
the  west  of  the  Great  plateaus  rise  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
where  climatic  conditions  are  different  on  account  of  ele- 
vation, and,  as  we  have  seen,  forests  occur  at  considerable 
elevations,  but  not  in  the  broader  valleys.  The  conditions 
unfavourable  for  tree  growth  are  continued  and  even 
intensified  in  the  valleys  of  the  central  portion  of  the  Pa- 
cific mountain  region,  and  culminate  in  the  deserts  of  the 
Great  Basin  and  western  Mexico.  Throughout  all  of  this 
vast  treeless  region  the  controlling  condition  is  deficiency 
of  moisture,  particularly  during  the  summer  or  growing 
season. 

The  nearest  approach  to  desert  conditions  to  be  found 
in  North  America  occur  in  the  valley  of  Utah  and  Nevada 


PLANT    LIFE  253 

and  the  southern  portion  of  the  Great  Lasin  region  in 
Arizona  and  Mexico.  The  bottoms  of  these  valleys  are, 
in  some  instances,  occupied  by  shallow  lakes  in  winter, 
when  scanty  rains  occur,  but  during  the  long,  hot  sum- 
mers they  become  completely  desiccated,  and  are  then 
broad  expanses  of  hard  mud,  cracked  by  drying  so  as  to 
resemble  a  tessellated  pavement  of  cream-coloured  marble. 
These  mud-flats  or  playas  are  frequently  absolutely  with- 
out plant  life.  Excepting  the  playas,  however,  and,  in 
numerous  instances,  a  narrow  belt  of  ground  encircling 
them,  which  is  white  with  efflorescent  salts,  the  valleys  of 
even  the  most  arid  portion  of  the  Great  Basin  region  are 
generally  plant-covered.  The  most  common  and  most 
widely  spread  of  the  shrubs  on  these  shadeless  plains  is 
the  sage-brush.  So  characteristic  is  this  plant  of  countless 
valleys  from  Canada  to  Mexico  within  the  general  region 
of  the  Pacific  mountains  that  to  one  familiar  with  the  coun- 
try the  term  "  sage-brush  land  "  brings  to  mind  the  lead- 
ing features  of  the  region  designated.  The  sage-brush 
lands  are  far  from  being  desert  areas,  however,  for  in  early 
spring  a  profusion  of  low,  sweet-scented  flowers  bloom 
beneath  the  gray-green  Artemisia,  and  sufficient  bunch- 
grass  to  sustain  considerable  herds  may  be  expected  in  the 
same  localities. 

The  vast,  irregular  belt  of  forest  encircling  the  central 
treeless  portion  of  the  continent  also  dies  out  on  its 
northern  border,  where  the  subarctic  forest  is  succeeded 
northward  by  the  Barren  Grounds  and  tundra  plains. 
Clearly  the  explanation  of  the  absence  of  trees  in  the 
prairie  region  and  the  adjacent  plateaus  cannot  be  applied 
to  scarcely  less  extensive  treeless  plains  at  the  far  north, 
where  rain  falls  in  summer  and  the  soil  is  always  abundantly 
charged  with  moisture.  It  needs  no  argument  to  show  that 
the  control  among  the  conditions  governing  tree  growth 
at  the  north  passes  to  the  temperate  element  of  climate. 
and  thai  the  timber-line  is  there  determined,  as  it  is  on 
high  mountains,  by  the  severity  of  the  winters'  storms 
and  frosts  and  the  shortness  of  the  summers. 


254  NORTH    AMERICA 


THE    TREELESS    MOUNTAIN    TOPS 

On  the  higher  mountains  of  North  America  above  the 
upper  limit  at  which  trees  are  able  to  grow  there  are 
picturesque  regions  carpeted  and  garlanded  in  late  spring 
and  summer  with  lovely  flowers,  the  indescribable  charms 
of  which  are  only  known  to  those  who  rejoice  in  climbing- 
rugged  peaks  and  in  following  the  trails  of  the  mountain- 
goat  along  sharp-crested  ridges.  The  gorgeous  blossoms 
of  these  roof-gardens  of  the  world  are  much  the  same  on 
all  high  mountains  in  temperate  latitudes,  but  from  having 
become  first  widely  known  to  civilized  man  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Switzerland,  are  generally  termed  alpine  flowers. 
The  most  attractive  features  of  an  alpine  flora,  which 
springs  into  bloom  as  soon  as  the  snow  melts  and  forms 
a  rapidly  widening  belt  of  colour  as  the  margins  of  the 
snow-fields  recede  higher  and  higher,  is  the  great  pro- 
fusion of  brilliantly  coloured  blossoms.  No  sooner  does 
the  snow  of  winter  melt  than  the  moist  ground  becomes 
enamelled  in  brilliant  colours  on  account  of  the  spring- 
ing up  and  quick  blossoming  of  millions  of  hardy  plants. 
The  growing  season  on  mountain  heights  is  short,  but  the 
sun's  energy  is  there  more  intense  and  the  hours  of  light  each 
day  longer  than  in  the  valleys  below,  and  the  plants  adapted 
to  such  conditions  pass  through  their  annual  circle  of  changes 
from  sprouting  seed  to  mature  fruit  with  remarkable  rapid- 
ity. In  many  instances  the  mountain-climber  finds  beautiful 
lilies  unfolding  their  sun-dyed  blossoms  at  the  bottom  of 
well-like  depressions  in  lingering  snow-banks.  The  gleam- 
ing mountain-peaks  when  seen  from  afar  are  said  to  be 
crowned  with  snow,  but  the  mountaineer  rejoices  in  the 
knowledge  that  their  cold  diadems  are  wreathed  and  fes- 
tooned about  their  lower  margins  with  lovely  blossoms. 
Many  mountains  less  ambitious  than  their  neighbours  have 
the  garlands  without  the  crown.  An  alpine  flora  is  present 
on  the  Pacific  mountains  from  Mexico  northward  to  Alaska. 
Like  the  "  timber-line  "  and  the  "  snow-line,"  the  interme- 
diate belt  of  profusely  flowering  herbaceous  plants  descends 
lower  and  lower  with  decrease  in  latitude;  on  the  srreat  vol- 


PLANT    LIFE  255 

canic  cones  of  Mexico  it  has  an  elevation  of  over  15,000 
feet;  on  the  Sierra  Nevada  the  greatest  wealth  of  flowers 
occurs  at  about  12,000  feet;  on  Mount  Rainier  widely  ex- 
tended gardens  resplendent  with  rainbow  tints  occur  at  7,000 
to  8,000  feet ;  and  about  the  foot-hills  near  Mount  St.  Elias, 
at  an  elevation  of  2,500  feet  or  less  above  the  sea,  every  knoll 
and  island-like  area  in  the  vast  ice-fields  is  so  densely  over- 
grown with  brilliantly  flowered  plants  that  one  has  to  part 
the  rank  growths  with  his  hands  and  press  them  aside  with 
his  alpenstick  in  order  to  force  a  way  through  the  fields 
of  bloom.  Admirers  of  nature's  loveliness  who  have  not 
climbed  to  aspiring  heights  will  find  a  new  and  beautiful 
world  in  the  public  alpine  garden  on  the  summit  and  about 
the  snow-fields  of  the  higher  portions  of  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains, where  no  sign-boards  forbid  entry  and  no  fences 
obstruct  the  way.  In  these  regions  nearest  the  sun  and 
stars  there  are  few.  if  any.  plants  of  utility  to  man,  but 
marvellous  beauty  and  lavish  profusion  fill  the  foreground 
in  everv  view.  These  glorious  mountain  heights  have 
their  use,  however,  although  as  yet  known  to  but  few;  rest 
and  recreation  amid  scenes  at  the  same  time  novel  and 
most  inspiring  may  there  be  found  by  the  toilers  in  our 
crowded  cities. 

Among  the  Atlantic  mountains  only  a  few  summits 
attain  a  sufficient  elevation  to  claim  a  wreath  of  alpine 
flowers.  Something  of  the  nature  of  the  gorgeous  fields 
of  bloom  about  the  great  peaks  of  the  Pacific  mountains 
is  suggested  on  the  treeless  summits  of  the  White  Moun- 
tains? but  although  classed  by  botanists  among  alpine 
floras,  the  plants  growing  there  fail  to  give  a  true  idea  of 
the  display  characteristic  of  the  mountains  which  make  a 
nearer  approach  to  the  lower  limit  of  perennial  snow.  In 
the  southern  Appalachians  the  absence  of  a  luxuriant 
alpine  flora  is  perhaps  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the 
profusion  of  rhododendrons,  azalea-,  and  laurels. 

One  instructive  lesson  suggested  by  this  hasty  glance 
at  the  plant  life  of  North  America  is  furnished  by  the 
quick  response  that  vegetation  gives  to  conditions  o\  envi- 


256  NORTH    AMERICA 

ronment.  Throughout  the  greater  divisions  of  the  forest, 
prairies,  grass-covered  plains  and  valleys,  and  flower- 
decked  mountain  heights  there  are  constant  variations 
from  locality  to  locality  in  the  plant  life  to  meet  seemingly 
obscure  or  but  slight  changes  in  the  conditions  of  tempera- 
ture, humidity,  exposure  to  sunlight,  soil  composition,  soil 
texture,  etc.;  and  besides  there  is  a  never-ceasing  struggle 
for  existence  among  the  plants  themselves  which  leads  to  im- 
portant modifications  of  a  flora.  These  changes  occur  from 
locality  to  locality,  frequently  within  a  short  radius,  but  more 
than  this,  the  resultant  of  the  various  modifying  conditions 
on  which  plant  life  depends  are  not  constant  even  for  a  given 
locality.  The  study  of  extinct  floras  has  shown  that  during 
the  preceding  ages  in  the  earth's  history  marvellous 
changes  in  the  plants  of  many  regions,  and,  in  fact,  of  the 
entire  earth's  surface,  have  taken  place.  The  distinct  im- 
pressions of  palm-leaves,  for  example,  are  commonly  found 
in  the  rocks  of  the  Cascade  Mountains,  where  spruces,  firs, 
and  cedars  now  dominate  the  landscape.  Still  more  stri- 
king is  the  fact  that  even  treeless  Greenland  and  the  largely 
ice-covered  islands  of  the  arctic  archipelago  were  formerly 
clothed  with  forests  as  luxuriant  and  varied  as  those  now 
growing  in  the  southern  Appalachian  region.  Although 
the  migrations  of  existing  forests  during  the  few  centuries 
of  which  we  have  historic  records  have  been  too  slow  to  be 
appreciated  by  man,  yet  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  changes 
similar  to,  and  in  fact  a  continuation  of,  those  known  by 
geologists  to  have  taken  place  in  the  distribution  of  the 
vegetation  of  the  continent  since  the  Tertiary  period  are 
still  in  progress.  With  far-reaching  and  exceedingly  slow 
changes  in  climatic  conditions  and  in  elevation  above  the  sea 
due  to  upheaval  and  denudation,  the  plants  of  our  forests, 
prairies,  and  mountain-sides,  are  being  moved  here  and 
there,  in  ever-changing  combinations.  Nature  thus  se- 
cures a  rotation  in  the  vegetation  of  a  region,  as  the  care- 
ful husbandman  varies  his  crops  from  year  to  year.  The 
suggestion  in  this  connection  furnished  by  geologists  is 
that  we  are  living  in  a  spring-time  following  the  great 
winter,  known  as  the  Glacial  epoch,  and  that  the  tropical,. 


PLANT    LIFE  257 

temperate,  and  subarctic  forests  are  migrating  northward 
in  an  orderly  march,  and  each  in  turn  ascending  higher  and 
higher  on  the  more  lofty  mountains. 

LITERATURE 

MUIR,  JOHN.  The  Mountains  of  California.  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  Lon- 
don, 1894. 

Pinchot,  Gifford.  A  Primer  of  Forestry.  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  No.  24,  Washington,  D.  C,  1899. 

Sargent,  C.  S.  Report  on  the  Forests  of  North  America.  Tenth 
Census  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ix,  Washington,  D.  C,  1884. 

United  States  Geological  Survey.     Reports  on  Forestry. 


CHAPTER    V 

ANIMAL    LIFE 

A  common  ground  to  zoologists  and  geographers  in 
the  exploration  of  which  they  derive  mutual  pleasure  from 
assisting  each  other,  is  the  geographical  distribution  of 
animals.  In  this  connection  the  fauna  of  North  America 
presents  perhaps  even  more  interesting  problems  than  does 
its  flora. 

GENERAL    PRINCIPLES    OF    GEOGRAPHICAL    DISTRIBUTION 

In  the  study  of  the  distribution  of  animals  over  a  con- 
tinent, the  discovery  of  the  laws  determining  the  intangi- 
ble boundaries  which  the  members  of  a  species  may  not 
pass  is  even  more  difficult  than  the  similar  task  in  the  case 
of  plants.  Plant  species  for  the  most  part  advance  and 
retreat  slowly  as  conditions  change,  and,  with  minor  ex- 
ceptions, there  is  no  freedom  of  movement  for  the  individ- 
ual; but  animals,  and  especially  the  higher  forms,  are  sensi- 
tive to  even  slight  changes  in  their  environment,  and  there 
is  more  or  less  individual  freedom  to  travel  over  the  land, 
to  fly  through  the  air,  or  to  swim  through  the  water.  Why 
the  members  of  a  given  species  which  have  apparently 
unlimited  power  to  travel  should  be  confined  to  a  certain 
and  frequently  a  narrowly  circumscribed  area  has  excited 
the  curiosity  of.  man  for  many  centuries. 

A  point  is  gained  in  reference  to  the  distribution  of 
animal  species  when  it  is  remembered  that  animals  are 
either  directly  or  indirectly  dependent  on  plants  for  food, 
and  it  follows  that  if  plants,  as  we  have  seen,  are  so  largely 
controlled  in  their  distribution  by  climate,  the  secret  of 
the  distribution  of  animals  is  to  be  sought  in  the  same 
direction.  When  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  classification  of 
258 


ANIMAL    LIFE  259 

climatic  provinces  is  arrived  at,  it  will  no  doubt  be  found 
to  agree  with  the  larger  features  of  plant  distribution,  and 
should  coincide,  although  perhaps  less  definitely,  with  the 
major  divisions  into  which  the  zoologist  partitions  the 
earth's  surface.  This  principle  has  been  recognised  by 
C.  Hart  Merriam  in  subdividing  the  United  States  into 
"  life-zones  and  crop-zones,"  and  in  the  following  pages 
his  view  will  be  discernible,  although  losing  much  of  their 
clearness  by  reflection. 

The  Place  of  North  America  in  the  Life  Realms  of  the 
Earth. — The  geological  distribution  of  animals  has  been  crit- 
ically studied  by  P.  L.  Sclater,  A.  R.  Wallace,  T.  H.  Huxley, 
and  others,  and  the  entire  land  area  of  the  earth  subdivided 
into  realms,  regions,  etc.,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  indicate 
the  present  grouping  of  animals.  One  of  the  latest  of  these 
broad  views  of  the  life  of  the  earth  is  presented  by  Richard 
Lydekker.  who,  from  the  evidence  furnished  by  both  living 
and  extinct  mammals,  has  divided  the  world  into  three 
great  "  realms,''  two  of  which  are  again  subdivided  into 
"  regions,"  as  follows: 

I    1.  Australian  region. 

Notogseic  realm \    2-  Polynesian  region. 

I    3.  Hawaiian  region. 

(  4.  Austro-Malayan  region. 

Neogxic  realm Neotropical  region. 

1.  Malagasy  region. 


Arctogseic  realm 


2.  Ethiopian  region. 

3.  Oriental  region. 

4.  llolarctic  region. 

5.  Sonoran  region. 


In  this  classification,  North  America  falls  in  part  in  two 
realms,  the  Arctogccic  and  Neogccic,  the  former  embracing 
the  table-land  of  north-central  Mexico  and  all  of  thai  por- 
tion of  the  continent  lying  to  the  northward,  while  the 
lowland  of  Mexico,  together  with  Central  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  falls  in  the  latter  realm.  'Hie  Arctogaeic 
includes  also  nearly  the  whole  of  the  eastern  hemisphere. 
The  relationship  expressed  in  this  classification  of  both 
the  living  an<l  extincl  mammalia  of  North  America  to  that 
of  Eurasia,  is  supposed  to  be  due  t<>  a  former  land  connec- 


260  NORTH    AMERICA 

tion  between  the  Old  and  the  New  World  at  Bering 
Strait,  and  is  most  clearly  marked  by  northern  species,  the 
intercontinental  bridge  being  too  far  north  to  be  available 
for  southern  forms.  The  mammals  and  many  of  the  other 
animals  of  the  low,  hot  borders  of  Mexico  and  of  Central 
America  are  a  northward  extension  of  the  fauna  of  South 
America — that  continent  constituting  nearly  the  entire 
Neogseic  realm.  The  mammals  of  the  West  Indies  are 
few  in  species,  and  have  their  nearest  relationship  with  the 
fauna  of  the  continent  to  the  southward. 

LIFE-REGIONS    AND    LIFE-ZONES 

The  detailed  study  of  the  zoology  of  North  America 
is  far  from  complete,  but  the  voluminous  results  reached 
have  led  to  several  attempts  at  broad  generalization  in 
reference  to  geographical  distribution.  Important  and 
highly  instructive  memoirs  have  been  presented  in  this 
connection  by  J.  A.  Allen,  Angelo  Heilprin,  E.  D.  Cope, 
and  others,  who  have  in  the  main  attempted  to  correlate 
the  distribution  of  animal  species,  but  principally  the  mam- 
mals, with  variations  in  mean  annual  temperature.  Among 
the  latest  of  these  contributions,  and  marking  the  advance 
made  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  is  the  classi- 
fication proposed  by  C.  Hart  Merriam,  already  referred 
to  in  the  sketches  that  have  been  given  of  the  climate  and 
of  the  flora  of  the  continent.  The  basis  for  this  classifica- 
tion is  the  seemingly  well-determined  law  that  the  north- 
ward distribution  of  terrestrial  animals  and  plants  is  con- 
trolled by  the  sum  of  the  positive  temperatures  for  the 
entire  season  of  growth  and  reproduction,  and  that  the 
southward  distribution  is  governed  by  the  mean  tempera- 
ture of  a  brief  period  during  the  hotter  portion  of  the 
year.  By  "  positive  temperatures  "  is  meant  the  sum  of 
the  mean  daily  temperature  above  that  which  determines 
the  period  of  physiological  activity  in  plants  and  of  repro- 
ductive activity  in  animals,  assumed  to  be  6°  C.  or  430  F. 
The  exact  length  of  the  period  to  be  taken  as  the  hottest 
portion  of  the  year  has  not  been  definitely  determined,  but 


ANIMAL    LIFE 


261 


must  be  short  enough  to  fall  within  the  hottest  part  of 
the  summer  in  high  northern  latitudes,  and  probably  in- 
creases in  length  from  north  to  south;  the  time  assumed 
is  the  six  hottest  consecutive  weeks  of  the  year. 

On  the  basis  just  stated,  Merriam  has  divided  North 
America  into  the  following  life-regions  and  life-zones: 


Realms  of 
Lydekker. 

Regions. 

Zones. 

Governing  Temperatures. 

NORTHERN    LIMIT. 

SOll  HERN  LIMIT. 

Sum  of  normal  mean 
daily  temperatures 

Normal  mean 
temperature  of 
the  six  hottest 

above  6°  C  or  430  F. 

consecutive 
weeks. 

(  Arctic. 

Deg.  C 

Deg   F. 

Deg.  C 
IO1 

Deg  F. 
SO1 

f  Boreal. 

-!  Hudsonian. 

M1 

57-21 

Arctogseic . 

(  Canadian, 
i  Transition. 

5,500 

IO.OCO 

18 
22 

64.4 
71.6 

[_  Austral. 

-  Upper  austral. 
f  Lower  austral. 

6,400 
10,000 

II,500 
iS.OOO 

26 

78.8 

Neogaeic.  . 

Tropical. 

( At  present  unclassi- 
fied). 

1 4.5^0 

26,000 

The  boundaries  of  the  regions  and  zones  given  in  the 
above  table  are  shown  on  the  map  facing  page  173,  but 
for  detailed  information  concerning  the  basis  of  the  classi- 
fication the  reader  is  referred  to  the  monographs  by  Mer- 
riam mentioned  at  the  end  of  this  chapter.  In  the  publi- 
cations referred  to  lists  are  presented  of  the  resident 
mammals  and  birds  characteristic  of  each  region  and  of 
its  subdivisions  to  the  north  of  Mexico.  While  the  bound- 
aries shown  on  the  accompanying  map  can  be  recognised 
in  nature  by  the  naturalist  and  serve  a  useful  purpose,  to 
the  unskilled  observer  each  region  would  appear  to  blend 
with  its  neighbours  by  intangible  gradations.  In  fact,  in 
this,  as  in  the  case  of  so  many  other  similar  instances  in 
nature,  there  is  an  absence  of  definite,  or  what  may  be 
termed  hard  and  fast  lines.  The  significance  of  the  bound- 
aries referred  to,  to  the  unskilled  observer,  is  still  more  ob- 
scure by  the  fact  that  the  migratory  birds,  and  to  some 
extent  the  mammals,  annually  pass  from  one  zone  to  an- 


1  Estimated  from  insufficient  data. 


1- 


262 


NORTH    AMERICA 


other,  and  besides,  several  conspicuous  mammals  and  birds 
are  permanent  residents  in  more  than  one  zone. 


THE    MAMMALS 

The  relation  of  the  mammals  of  North  America  to  the 
similar  animals  now  inhabiting  other  portions  of  the 
earth  may  be  briefly  shown  by  indicating  the  distribution 
of  the  orders  into  which  the  mammalia  are  divided.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  in  general  each  order  is  subdi- 
vided into  families,  these  again  into  genera,  the  genera 
into  species,  and  a  species  may  contain  several  varieties. 
The  classification  here  adopted  is  the  one  used  by  Lydek- 
ker  in  his  Manual  of  Palaeontology.  An  order  when  rep- 
resented in  the  fauna  of  a  continent  is  indicated  in  the 
following  table  by  a  plus,  and  when  absent  by  a  minus, 
sign. 

CLASS MAMMALIA 


SUB- 
CLASSE 

Orders. 

Examples. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

N.  Am. 

S.  Am. 

Eurasia. 

Africa. 

Austra- 
lia. 

' 

I. 

Primates. 

Man,         lemurs, 
apes,   monkeys. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

(Man). 

2. 

Chiroptera 

Bats. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

3- 

Insectiv- 
ora. 

Moles,      shrews, 
hedgehogs. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

4- 

Carnivora. 

Lions,  tigers,  cats, 
dogs,  seals,  etc. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

Eu- 
the-  > 

<v 

Rodentia. 

Beavers,         rats, 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

mice,  squirrels, 

rabbits. 

na. 

6. 

Ungulata. 

Ox,    horse,    ele- 
phant, tapir,  etc. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

— 

7- 

Sirenia. 

Dugong          and 
manatee. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

8. 

Cetacea. 

Whales,  dolphins, 
narwhals. 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

, 

9- 

Edentata. 

Sloths,    armadil- 

+ 

+ 

+ 

+ 

—      ' 

Meta- 

los,  ant-eaters. 

10. 

Marsupia- 

Kangaroos,  opos- 

+ 

+ 

— 

- 

+ 

theria 
Proto 

lia. 

sums,  etc. 

- 11. 

Monotre- 

Ornithorhynchus, 

— 

— 

— 

— 

+ 

theria 

mata. 

echidna 

1 

ANIMAL    LIFE  26 


0 


1.  Of  the  primates,  exclusive  of  man,  the  monkeys  are 
the  only  representatives  in  North  America.  Several  spe- 
cies are  common  in  Central  America,  but  they  are  absent 
from  the  West  Indies,  and  do  not  occur  north  of  the  terra 
calente  of  Mexico. 

2.  The  bats  are  world-wide  in  their  distribution,  and 
several  genera  and  species  occur  on  this  continent,  their 
northern  limit  being  in  central  Canada;  during  the  winter 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada  they  hibernate  largely  in 
caverns.  One  family  of  the  Chiroptera,  the  leaf-nosed  bats 
(Phyllostomatidce),  are  strictly  American,  having  their  prin- 
cipal habitat  in  the  southern  continent,  but  ranging  as  far 
north  as  the  West  Indies,  Mexico,  and  southern  California. 
These  are  the  vampires  of  which  many  harrowing  tales  are 
told.  The  Central  American  species  are  small,  not  larger 
than  an  English  sparrow,  but  do  not  hesitate  to  attack 
cattle,  and  even  men. 

3.  The  insect-eating  mammals  are  represented  by  a 
large  number  of  genera  and  species,  of  moles  and  shrews, 
but  hedgehogs  are  absent. 

4.  The  flesh-eating  animals  are  well  represented  by  the 
cats  (jaguars,  panthers,  and  lynxes),  wolves,  bears,  racoons, 
martens,  etc.  Many  species  of  the  seal  family  occur  about 
the  entire  coast-line  from  Panama  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
The  lion,  tiger,  leopard,  hyena,  are  absent. 

5.  The  rodents  are  present  in  great  numbers  not  only 
of  individuals,  but  of  species  and  genera;  as  rats,  mice, 
jumping-mice,  squirrels,  porcupines,  beavers,  rabbits,  etc. 

6.  The  hoofed  animals,  ungulates,  are  represented  by 
the  bison,  musk-ox,  several  deer,  antelope,  mountain- 
sheep  and  mountain-goat,  tapir,  and  swine  (peccary). 
Abundant  remains  of  extinct  species  of  the  horse  family 
have  been  found,  ranging  far  back  in  geological  time,  but 
native  horses  are  not  known  to  have  existed  since  the 
coming  of  Europeans.  The  most  notable  vacancies  in 
this  order  in  the  living  fauna  an-  the  rhinoceros,  hippo- 
potamus, camel,  giraffe,  and  elephant,  although  these  are 
abundantly  represented  by  fossil  forms. 

7.  The  Sirenia,  which  includes  certain  large  herbi  0 


264  NORTH    AMERICA 

rous  marine  mammals  of  wide  distribution,  are  represented 
on  the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean 
Sea  by  the  manatee. 

8.  The  Cetacea  are  present  in  the  marine  waters  adja- 
cent to  the  coast,  more  especially  in  the  north,  where 
whales  of  several  species,  dolphins,  the  narwhal,  etc.,  are 
found. 

9.  Of  the  Edentata,  which  are  so  characteristic  of  the 
fauna  of  South  America,  and  with  one  exception  (the  scaly 
ant-eater,  not  found  in  America)  do  not  occur  in  the  Old 
World,  only  the  armadillo  can  be  credited  to  North  Amer- 
ica; of  this,  two  species  occur  from  Texas  southward. 

10.  The  marsupials,  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world 
to-day  except  in  Australia  and  America,  are  represented 
by  the  opossum,  of  which  two  species  are  common  in  the 
United  States. 

11.  The  lowest  known  order  of  the  mammalia,  the 
Monotremata,  represented  in  Australia  by  the  duck-billed 
platypus  (Ornithorhynchus)  and  the  Echidna,  is  unknown 
in  America. 

Considered  in  reference  to  their  abundance,  large  size 
of  individuals,  and  number  of  species,  in  comparison  with 
the  other  orders  present,  North  America  may  be  said  to 
be  the  home  of  herbivores.  The  only  continent  in  rivalry 
with  it  in  this  respect  is  Africa.  More  abundant  in  indi- 
viduals and  species  than  the  herbivorous  mammals,  how- 
ever, but  smaller  in  size  and  frequently  diminutive,  are 
the  rodents.  The  carnivores  are  fortunately  limited  in 
number  of  species,  although  the  individuals  of  certain  spe- 
cies are  at  times  numerous,  but  not  in  general  dangerous 
to  man. 

SOME    REPRESENTATIVE    MAMMALS 

To  the  general  reader  the  animals  of  greatest  interest 
are  no  doubt  the  mammals,  and  particularly  those  which 
attract  the  sportsman,  are  of  value  for  food,  or  furnish  fur 
and  skins  for  clothing.  Of  such  animals  the  northern  por- 
tion of  North  America  and  the  mountains  extending  south- 
ward into  the  austral  region  furnish  a  large  number. 


ANIMAL    LIFE  26 


5 


The  Musk-Ox. — In  the  far  north,  mostly  beyond  the 
arctic  circle,  lives  the  musk-ox,  the  hardiest  of  herbivores, 
in  which,  as  expressed  in  its  generic  name,  Ovibos,  there  is 
a  curious  mingling  of  the  characteristics  of  the  sheep  and 
the  ox.  The  teeth  are  similar  to  those  of  the  sheep,  the 
female  has  but  two  mamma?,  and  beneath  the  long  yellow- 
ish-brown hair  of  the  outer  coat  there  is  a  thick  wool-like 
growth.  Its  gentle,  inoffensive  nature  is  also  similar  to 
that  of  the  sheep.  The  large  feet  and  the  horns,  however, 
are  like  those  of  the  ox  tribe.  The  horns  resemble  those 
of  the  Cape  buffalo,  being  broad  at  the  base  and  covering 
nearly  the  entire  forehead.  They  slope  downward  at  the 
sides,  and  then  curve  forward  and  outward,  at  the  same 
time  tapering  to  a  sharp  point,  which  renders  them  effi- 
cient weapons.  These  characteristics,  although  intermedi- 
ate between  those  of  the  sheep  and  the  ox,  are  more 
strongly  inclined  to  the  former.  In  reality,  however,  the 
musk-ox  is  more  goat-like  than  sheep-like,  as  is  indicated  by 
its  covering  of  hair,  its  short  sturdy  legs,  the  cannon-bone 
being  remarkably  short,  and  its  ability  as  a  climber. 

A  full-grown  musk-ox  measures  about  8  feet  in  length, 
inclusive  of  the  short  tail,  and  is  3  feet,  8  or  9  inches  in 
height  at  the  shoulders.  The  thick-set,  shaggy  body  is 
supported  on  short  stout  legs,  and  the  feet  are  broad,  to 
serve  both  as  scrapers  in  clearing  away  the  snow  from  the 
moss  and  herbage  on  which  it  lives  and  in  climbing  ice- 
covered  slopes. 

Its  range  is  over  the  Barren  Grounds  of  Canada,  the 
islands  of  the  arctic  archipelago,  and  the  border  of  Green- 
land Peary  found  it  grazing  in  herds  in  the  far  north  of 
Greenland  beyond  the  inland  ice,  and  was  saved  from  star- 
vation by  the  food  it  furnished.  Although  hardy  and  well 
adapted  by  nature  to  withstand  the  mosl  severe  cold,  it 
moves  southward  over  the  Barren  Grounds  in  winter  and  to 
some  extent  at  leasl  seeks  shelter  in  the  subarctic  forest, 
but  apparently  does  not  pass  to  the  southward  of  latitude 
59  .  Like  certain  other  animals  of  the  northern  portion 
of  the  continent,  its  habitat  is  to  the  northeastward  and 
it  is  unknown  in  Alaska. 


266  NORTH    AMERICA 

Bones  of  the  musk-ox  found  in  the  frozen  soil  of  Siberia 
indicate  that  it  formerly  had  a  circumpolar  distribution. 
A  skull  obtained  near  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  in  1871,  and 
the  presence  of  its  bones  in  the  superficial  deposit  of 
Europe  as  far  south  as  the  Pyrenees,  show  that  it  formerly 
lived  far  to  the  southward  of  its  present  southern  limit. 
This  was  during  the  Pleistocene  division  of  geological  his- 
tory, when  glacial  ice  covered  all  of  Canada  and  the  arctic 
animals  were  crowded  southward.  As  the  ice  melted  and 
its  southern  margin  receded,  the  musk-ox  moved  north- 
ward. The  absence  of  this  species  in  northern  Europe 
and  Asia,  where  the  climatic  conditions,  nature  of  the  vege- 
tation, etc.,  are  similar  to  those  of  its  present  home,  is 
perhaps  due  to  the  influence  of  man.  The  successful  intro- 
duction of  the  domesticated  reindeer  into  Alaska  suggests 
that  beneficial  results  would  follow  the  transplanting  of 
the  musk-ox  to  northern  Siberia. 

The  Polar  Bear. — About  all  of  the  northern  coast-line 
of  America,  including  the  shore  of  Bering  Sea  and  Baffin 
Bay,  lives  the  well-known  polar  bear,  which  is  circum- 
polar in  its  distribution.  The  wide  range  of  this  the  most 
northern  of  the  bear  tribe  is  due  not  only  to  its  strength 
and  ability  to  make  long  journeys  over  rough  ice-floes 
and  the  wide  distribution  of  the  animals  it  feeds  upon,  prin- 
cipally the  hair-seal,  but  is  aided  by  the  fact  that  it  takes 
to  the  water  readily  and  is  a  good  swimmer.  It  has  also 
been  known  to  make  long  journeys  on  floating  ice. 

The  Eskimo  Dog. — Another  animal  of  circumpolar  dis- 
tribution, the  original  home  of  which  is  unknown,  is  the 
Eskimo  dog.  the  range  of  which  has  no  doubt  been  ex- 
tended while  the  distribution  of  many  other  animals  has 
been  curtailed,  owing  to  human  influences. 

The  Caribou. — The  neighbour  of  the  musk-ox  in  the 
desolate  solitudes  of  the  far  north,  and  in  part  ranging 
over  the  same  ground,  is  the  caribou,  the  American  repre- 
sentative of  the  reindeer.  Indeed  the  caribou  and  the  rein- 
deer have  been  considered  as  belonging  to  the  same  species 
by  some  naturalists,  but  recently  the  American  division  of 
the  genus  has  been  shown  to  consist  of  at  least  five  species, 


ANIMAL    LIFE  267 

each  of  which  differs  from  the  one  found  in  Europe  and 
Asia.  Among  hunters  and  sportsmen,  two  divisions  have 
long  been  known,  namely,  the  woodland  caribou  and  the 
Barren-Ground  caribou.  The  former  includes  the  larger 
species,  or  the  caribou  proper,  as  it  may  be  termed,  and 
the  recently  described  species  from  Newfoundland  and 
Alaska:  while  the  latter  is  represented  by  a  single  species, 
the  Rangifer  articus. 

The  woodland  caribou  is  in  general  about  twice  the 
size  of  the  species  inhabiting  the  Barren  Grounds,  has 
a  height  of  4^  feet  at  the  shoulder,  and  weighs  some  250 
pounds,  although  the  males  sometimes  reach  a  weight  of 
400  pounds.  Its  range  is  from  Nova  Scotia  and  New- 
foundland northwestward  through  the  subarctic  forest  to 
British  Columbia  and  northeastern  Alaska.  As  its  popu- 
lar name  signifies,  its  home  is  in  the  forest,  and  although 
meeting  the  smaller  form  during  the  latter's  southward 
migrations,  it  does  not  extend  its  range  to  the  Barren 
Grounds.  On  the  south,  it  was  formerly  found  in  northern 
Michigan  and  in  southern  New  York,  and  thence  eastward 
through  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine.  Owing 
to  the  activity  with  which  it  has  been  hunted,  it  has  for  the 
most  part  been  crowded  to  the  north  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  is  reported  to  be  greatly  diminished  in  numbers  even 
in  the  wilds  of  Labrador.  It  still  wanders  into  the  woods 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  and  occurs  somewhat  abun- 
dantly in  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland.  It  is  the  cari- 
bou of  Newfoundland,  etc.,  which  comes  nearest  the  rein- 
deer in  size  and  in  the  shape  of  its  magnificent  antlers,  but 
none  of  the  American  species  has  been  domesticated. 

The  Barren-Ground  caribou  still  occurs  in  large  herds 
in  northern  Labrador,  on  the  treeless  region  to  the  west 
of  Hudson  Bay,  and  in  winter  migrates  southward  into 
the  shelter  of  the  subarctic  forest.  In  its  northern  range 
it  reaches  the  shore  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the-  islands 
adjacent,  and  on  the  west  follows  the  tundra  to  the  Bering 
Sea  coast.  Tn  Alaska  it  formerly  occurred  in  immense 
herds,  especially  in  winter,  when  it  made  long  inland  jour- 
neys through  the  foresl  and  across  the  frozen  rivers,  but 


268  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  invasion  of  the  region  by  miners  and  the  supplying  of 
the  natives  with  firearms  has  led  to  a  great  reduction  in 
its  numbers.  In  the  barren  and  but  seldom  traversed 
region  to  the  west  and  north  of  Hudson  Bay  the  caribou 
is  still  in  its  primitive  condition  and  moves  in  bands  num- 
bering several  thousand.  In  this  connection  an  extract 
from  the  journal  of  J.  B.  Tyrrell,  of  the  Canadian  Geo- 
logical Survey,  is  of  interest:  ''All  day  [July  30.  1893] 
the  caribou  have  been  around  us  in  vast  numbers,  many 
thousands  being  assembled  in  a  single  herd.  One  herd 
collected  on  the  hill  behind  our  camp,  and  another  re- 
mained for  hours  in  the  wet  bog  on  the  point  in  front  of 
us.  The  little  fawns  were  running  about  everywhere,  often 
coming  up  to  within  a  yard  or  two  of  us.  uttering  their 
sharp  grunts  as  they  stood  and  looked  at  us  or  as  they 
turned  and  ran  back  to  the  does.  About  noon  a  large 
herd  had  collected  on  the  sides  and  summit  of  the  hill 
behind  us.  Taking  a  small  hand-camera  with  which  we 
were  supplied,  we  walked  quietly  among  them.  As  we 
approached  to  within  a  few  yards  of  the  dense  herd,  it 
opened  to  let  us  in  and  then  formed  a  circle  around  us, 
so  that  we  were  able  to  stand  for  a  couple  of  hours  and 
watch  the  deer  as  they  stood  in  the  light  breeze  or  rubbed 
slowly  past  each  other  to  keep  off  the  black  flies.  The 
bucks,  with  their  beautiful  branching  antlers,  kept  well 
to  the  background.  Later  in  the  afternoon  a  herd  of 
bucks  trotted  up  to  us  and  stood  at  about  40  yards  distant. 
This  was  a  most  beautiful  sight,  for  their  horns  were  fully 
grown,  though  still  soft  at  the  tips,  but  unfortunately  we 
had  no  camera  with  us.  We  did  no  shooting  to-day." 
The  herd  of  caribou  just  described  was  estimated  to  con- 
tain between  100,000  and  200,000  animals. 

The  destruction  of  the  woodland  caribou  in  the  eastern 
portion  of  Canada  has  been  so  great  that  it  is  in  danger 
of  being  exterminated,  and  great  suffering,  and  even  star- 
vation has  overtaken  the  Indians  of  that  region  in  conse- 
quence. Similar,  but  even  more  alarming  results  have  fol- 
lowed the  thoughtless  slaughter  of  the  Barren-Ground 
caribou  in  Alaska,  and  to  prevent  the  suffering  and  even 


ANIMAL    LIFE  269 

threatened  extermination  of  the  natives,  reindeer  from 
Siberia  and  northern  Europe  have  been  introduced  by  the 
United  States  Government x  and  are  thriving-  under  the 
care  of  herders  from  Lapland.  The  moss  on  which  the 
reindeer  feed  is  abundant  in  Alaska,  and  there  seems  no 
good  reason  why  they  should  not  become  as  numerous 
and  useful  in  their  new  home  as  they  were  in  the  boreal 
portion  of  the  Old  World.  The  first  reindeer  were  intro- 
duced in  Alaska  in  1881,  and  the  several  herds,  collectively, 
now  number  3,323. 

The  Moose. — This,  the  largest  living  representative  of 
the  deer  tribe,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  bison  the 
largest  existing  land  mammal  of  North  America,  formerly 
inhabited  the  continent  throughout  its  entire  breadth  from 
the  forty-third  to  the  seventieth  degree  of  latitude,  or  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie. 
Although  crowded  northward  and  now  found  only  spar- 
ingly in  the  United  States,  as,  for  example,  in  the  extensive 
forests  of  Maine  and  in  the  still  larger  forests  clothing  the 
mountains  of  Montana  and  Idaho,  it  has  held  its  own  in 
the  wildest  and  most  remote  portions  of  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains in  Canada  and  Alaska,  where  its  numbers  arc  per- 
haps nearly  as  great  as  they  were  a  century  ago.  Its  pres- 
ervation is  due  not  only  to  its  shyness,  remarkably  quick 
hearing,  and  keen  sense  of  smell,  but  to  its  solitary  habits 
and  the  fact  that  it  does  not  gather  in  herds  during  the 
breeding-season,  like  most  other  deer. 

A  full-grown  male  moose  is  from  7  to  8  feet  high  at 
the  shoulder,  and  from  10  to  12  feet  high  at  the  tip  of  the 
magnificent  antlers  when  standing  erect,  and  i<  from  800 

1  The  introduction  of  domesticated  reindeer  into  North  America  is  a 
very  important  m.-itter,  and  one  which  if  properly  conducted  will  add 
vastly  to  the  food  supply  and  resources  for  clothing  lor  both  native  ami 
white  people.  The  civilization  of  the  natives  in  the  northern  portion  of 
the  continent  and  the  securing  for  them  of  a  v,,ur<  e  of  subsistem  e  whii  h 
will  depend  on  their  own  care  and  industry  hinges  on  the  success  of  this 
undertaking.     Much  information  in  this  1  onnei  tion  may  be  found  in  the 

ns  of  Sheldon  Jackson,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  at 
Washington  between  1893  and  [900. 


270  NORTH    AMERICA 

to  1,200  pounds  in  weight.  The  broad  palmate  antlers 
with  numerous  sharp  points  sometimes  measure  8^  feet 
or  more  from  tip  to  tip.  The  does  are  without  antlers,  and 
are  still  more  ungainly  than  the  long-legged  and  apparently 
awkward  males.  Stringent  laws  are  now  enforced  for  the 
protection  of  the  moose  in  all  of  the  inhabited  portions 
of  its  range,  and  it  is  likely  to  survive  and  to  continue  to 
tempt  the  sportsman  to  traverse  the  wild  regions  it  inhab- 
its for  several  generations  to  come. 

The  }J7apiti. — Next  in  size  to  the  moose,  and  in  many 
ways  the  grandest  of  the  deer  tribe  not  only  of  America, 
but  of  the  world,  is  the  wapiti  or  American  elk.  In  lan- 
guage not  pedantic,  W.  A.  Perry  speaks  as  follows  of  this 
noble  animal :  "  Monarch  of  the  wilderness,  lord  of  the 
mountain,  king  of  the  plain,  what  hunter  who  has  sought  thee 
in  thy  pine-embowered  home  whose  heart-beat  does  not 
quicken  and  whose  eye  does  not  brighten  at  the  mention  of 
thy  name!  For  with  it  comes  the  recollection  of  boundless 
prairies,  grass-robed  and  flower-decked;  of  pine-clad,  snow- 
capped mountains;  of  sweet  breezes,  gentle  melodies,  and 
grand  trophies.  I  once  heard  an  Indian  speak  his  last 
words,  and  they  were  these:  '  To-morrow,  in  the  Spirit 
Land,  again  shall  I  chase  the  wapiti.'  " 

Although  the  wapiti  is  one  of  the  typical  animals  of 
the  boreal  region,  in  its  primitive  freedom  it  overstepped 
the  boundaries  of  the  life-zones  which  science  seeks  to 
define,  and  marched  southward  far  into  the  austral  region. 
It  was  found  at  the  coming  of  the  white  man  in  nearly  all 
parts  of  what  is  now  the  United  States,  and  extended  from 
the  table-land  of  north-central  Mexico  northward  to  the 
fifty-sixth  or  fifty-seventh  degree  of  latitude,  or  about  the 
position  of  Lake  Athabasca.  Its  northern  range  thus  over- 
lapped the  region  inhabited  by  the  moose  and  caribou, 
while  at  the  south  it  was  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the 
jaguar.  As  civilization  advanced  across  the  continent,  the 
wapiti  slowly  retreated,  and  in  diminished  numbers  it  now 
lives  in  the  wildest  portion  of  the  Pacific  mountains  to 
the  north  of  Snake  River  and  the  Columbia.  It  is  still 
abundant  in  the  Olympic  Mountains  of  Washington,  the 


ANIMAL    LIFE  271 

Bitter  Root  Mountains  of  Idaho,  and  in  Montana.  A 
large  herd  finds  protection  in  the  Yellowstone  National 
Park,  but  in  winter,  when  migrating  southward,  is  exposed 
to  most  destructive  attacks  from  both  white  and  Indian 
hunters.  Among  the  mountains  of  the  mainland  in  British 
Columbia  and  the  central  and  more  rugged  portion  of 
Vancouver  Island  it  is  still  the  "  king  of  the  wilderness." 

The  male  wapiti  at  maturity  is  some  7  or  8  feet  high 
at  the  shoulders,  and  lifts  its  wide-spreading  antlers  fully 
11  feet  from  the  ground.  Its  weight  is  from  800  to  pos- 
sibly 1. 1 00  pounds.  The  colour  is,  in  general,  dark  brown, 
with  lighter  shades  on  the  thighs,  and  changing  to  black 
beneath  the  body;  there  are  stripes  of  light  brown  on 
either  side  of  the  tail  which  join  an  area  of  similar  colour 
beneath  the  hind  legs;  the  colour  varies,  however,  at  dif- 
ferent seasons  and  in  different  individuals.  The  head  is 
small,  well  formed,  and  beautiful.  The  carriage  of  the  ani- 
mal and  its  bold,  undaunted  mien,  when  roaming  its  native 
mountains  and  glens,  is  all  and  more  than  poets  ascribe  to 
the  stag  of  the  Old  World. 

Stringent  laws  are  now  on  the  statute-books  for  the 
protection  of  the  wapiti,  both  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  but  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  enforcing  them 
in  regions  remote  from  civilization  is  great.  The  wapiti 
does  not  extend  into  the  most  forbidding  wilds  of  the  far 
north,  where  its  safety  as  a  species,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
moose,  would  be  insured,  and  besides,  congregates  in 
bands,  which  facilitates  its  slaughter.  Its  range  has  been 
steadily  decreasing  since  the  coming  of  the  white  man,  and 
particularly  since  the  introduction  of  firearms  among  the 
Indian-,  and  its  extinction,  outside  of  reservations  and 
park-,  is  to  be  expected  in  the  near  future. 

The  Smaller  Deer. — Besides  the  caribou,  moose,  and 
wapiti,  there  are  half  a  dozen  or  more  members  of  the  deer 
family  (Cervidce)  represented  in  the  fauna  of  North  Amer- 
ica. (  m  these  the  Virginia  deer  is  best  known,  as  its  range 
embraces  the  most  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  continenl 
between  Maine  and  the  Gulf  States,  and  from  the  Atlantic 
coast  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.     In  spite  of  indiscriminate 


272  NORTH    AMERICA 

slaughter  and  poorly  enforced  game  laws,  this  species  has 
not  only  held  its  own,  but  in  recent  years  has  greatly  in- 
creased in  number  in  certain  localities.  To  the  west  of 
the  range  of  the  Virginia  deer  and  merging  with  it  in  part, 
in  the  Pacific  mountain  region  occur  the  white-tailed, 
black-tailed  mule,  and  sonora  deer,  and  perhaps  other  spe- 
cies. The  combined  ranges  of  these  several  species  em- 
brace the  larger  part  of  the  continent  and  extend  from 
eastern  Canada  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  from  southern 
Alaska  to  Panama. 

Next  to  the  deer  comes  the  antelope,  formerly  so  com- 
mon on  the  Great  plateaus.  This,  the  pronghorn  antelope, 
as  it  is  usually  termed,  is  about  the  size  of  the  domestic 
sheep,  but  with  long  slim  legs,  and  is  a  most  active  and 
exceedingly  graceful  animal.  Its  true  home  is  on  the  tree- 
less plateaus  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  its  range 
extends  from  Saskatchewan  to  northern  Mexico,  and  from 
the  Prairie  plains  to  the  Cascade  Mountains  in  Oregon.  It 
has  steadily  decreased  in  number,  especially  during  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century,  and  is  now  no  longer  seen  in  the 
large  bands  that  were  formerly  an  attractive  feature  of  the 
sea-like  plains  over  which  it  travels  seemingly  with  the 
freedom  of  a  bird. 

The  animals  thus  far  referred  to  have  their  range  de- 
termined mainly  by  the  broader  features  of  climate,  but  not 
in  a  conspicuous  way  by  the  relief  of  surface.  They  inhabit 
mountains,  plateaus,  and  plains  alike,  as  is  shown  most 
conspicuously  in  the  case  of  the  wapiti,  which  formerly 
grazed  in  large  herds  on  the  prairies  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  and  has  been  killed  at  an  elevation  of  over  10,000 
feet  in  the  Pacific  mountains.  Not  so,  however,  with  the 
mountain-climbers  whose  names  follow,  which  have  their 
chosen  "  station  "  on  the  mountains  at  timber-line  and  ascend 
as  far  above  that  horizon  as  vegetation  grows. 

The  Bighorn  or  Mountain-Sheep. — The  bighorn,  of 
which  three  species  are  now  recognised,  has  its  home  in  the 
Pacific  mountains  from  northern  Mexico  to  central  and 
northern  Alaska.  Its  vertical  range  is  also  great,  as  it  has 
been  seen  on  the  precipitous  walls  of  the  Grand  Canon  of 


ANIMAL    LIFE  273 

the  Colorado,  but  a  few  hundred  feet  above  sea-level,  and 
about  the  summits  of  the  peaks  of  Colorado  and  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains  at  elevations  of 
from  10,000  to  13,000  feet.  An  exception  to  the  fact  that 
the  bighorn  is  usually  found  on  rugged  mountains  and  is 
most  at  home  on  seemingly  inaccessible  cliffs  is  furnished 
by  bands  which  live  and  appear  to  thrive  amid  the  Bad 
Lands  along  the  Missouri  River,  some  400  miles  to  the 
eastward  of  the  Stony  Mountains. 

The  bighorn  resembles  the  wapiti  in  colour,  although 
it  is  of  a  lighter  brown,  especially  in  winter.  It  is  clothed 
with  wool  beneath  the  stiff  outer  coat  of  hair,  and  is  a  true 
sheep,  but  larger  than  any  domesticated  variety  of  Ovis. 
The  rams  attain  a  height  of  at  least  3  feet  6  inches  at  the 
shoulder,  and  weigh  some  300  or  400  pounds.  Both 
sexes  are  provided  with  horns,  but  those  of  the  male  are 
much  the  larger, and  in  the  finest  examples  attain  a  length  of 
30  inches,  measured  along  the  outer  curve,  and  a  circum- 
ference at  the  base  of  15  or  16  inches.  The  most  magnifi- 
cent head  ever  obtained,  so  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able 
to  learn,  is  that  of  a  ram  shot  in  the  Selkirk  Mountains, 
the  horns  of  which  are  52^  inches  in  length,  measured 
along  the  outer  curve,  and  18^  inches  in  circumference  at 
the  base.  These  immense  horns  are  used,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  domestic  ram,  in  fighting,  but  the  widely  current 
statement  in  reference  to  the  animals  alighting  on  them 
when  jumping  from  precipices  is  entirely  mythical.  The 
bighorn  is  a  fearless  and  skilful  mountaineer,  and  will 
climb  or  descend  precipices  by  bounding  from  ledge  to 
ledge  where  the  most  reckless  hunter  dares  not  follow.  It- 
ability  to  find  a  sure  footing  on  even  smoothly  glaciated 
rocks  is  due  to  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  feet,  which 
have  a  rubber-like  pad  beneath  the-  sharp-pointed  and 
sharp-edged  hoofs. 

The  Mazama  or  Mountain-Goat. — The  companion  of  the 
bighorn  on  the  lofty  mountains,  but  even  more  thoroughly 
a  mountaineer,  is  the  so-called  mountain-goat,  Aplocerus 
montanus,  which,  in  spite  of  its  long  hair,  short  curved 
horns,  sturdy  legs,  bearded  chin,  and  general  goal  like  ;ii> 


274  NORTH    AMERICA 

pearance,  and  more  than  the  goat's  ability  to  climb,  is  in 
reality  more  nearly  related  to  the  antelope  than  it  is  to 
the  sheep.  This  alpine  antelope,  unlike  its  cousin  of  the 
plains,  is  only  at  home  on  dizzy  heights,  and  summer  and 
winter  alike  lives  at  timber-line  on  the  mountains  or  in  the 
alpine  gardens  adjacent  to  perpetual  snow. 

One  of  the  earliest  generic  names  under  which  it  is 
assumed  this  alpine  antelope  was  included,  namely.  Mazama, 
although  rejected  by  naturalists,  has  recently  been  revived 
and  adopted  by  an  enthusiastic  mountaineering  club  in 
Portland,  Oregon,  as  their  name,  and  is  likely  to  become 
widely  known.  Among  the  hunters  and  the  inhabitants 
generally  of  the  region  where  the  animal  under  considera- 
tion lives  it  is  termed  the  mountain-goat,  and  no  protest 
from  naturalists,  however  well  founded,  is  likely  to  bring 
about  a  change  in  this  connection. 

The  mazama  is  entirely  white,  excepting  its  hoofs, 
horns,  and  narrow  lines  about  the  eyes  and  nostrils,  which 
are  black.  In  general,  it  is  smaller  than  the  bighorn,  but 
bucks  have  been  reported  to  attain  a  length  of  nearly  6 
feet  and  a  weight  of  some  300  or  400  pounds.  Its  habitat 
is  not  only  higher  on  the  mountains  but  more  restricted  in 
geographical  extent  than  that  of  the  bighorn.  It  is  said 
to  live  about  Mount  Whitney,  the  highest  summit  in  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  but  is  unknown  farther  south;  in  Colorado 
it  is  reported  to  have  been  seen  on  a  few  of  the  higher 
peaks,  but  its  main  range  begins  well  to  the  north  of  these 
outlying  localities,  in  the  mountains  of  Montana  and  Idaho 
and  in  the  Cascades.  To  the  north  of  the  United  States 
it  occurs  throughout  the  higher  ranges  of  British  Columbia 
and  in  the  mountains  of  southern  Alaska  as  far  west  at  least 
as  Cook  Inlet.  It  is  plentiful  and  as  yet  undisturbed  by 
hunters  on  the  foot-hills  about  Mount  St.  Elias.  where  the 
alpine  conditions  congenial  to  it  occur  at  an  elevation  of 
from  2,000  to  3.000  feet  above  the  sea.  Like  all  of  the 
larger  animals,  and  especially  the  herbivores,  the  bighorn 
and  the  mazama  are  sought  by  sportsmen,  but  on  account 
of  the  ruggedness  of  the  regions  they  inhabit  and  their 
wariness  thev  are  likelv  to  survive  when  most  other  exam- 


<£ 


ANIMAL    LIFE  275 

pies  of  "  big  game  "  shall  have  been  exterminated.  Both 
the  bighorn  and  the  mazama  are  sought  by  Indians  for 
food  and  for  their  pelts,  and  their  horns  are  frequently 
used,  especially  in  Alaska,  in  the  manufacture  of  spoons. 
They  are  practically  of  no  economic  importance  to  white 
men,  although  their  flesh  when  young  is  excellent  food, 
and  their  fleeces  would  be  of  value  to  the  weaver  if  they 
could  be  obtained  in  sufficient  quantity.  Thev  serve, 
however,  to  entice  the  sportsman,  who  is  usually  an 
ardent  lover  of  nature,  into  some  of  the  wildest  and 
grandest  regions  the  continent  affords.  Their  value 
in  this  connection  is  not  to  be  measured  in  dollars, 
and  strenuous  efforts  should  be  made  to  insure  their 
continuance. 

The  Bison. — Of  all  the  larger  mammals  of  North  Amer- 
ica, none  was  more  numerous  at  the  time  Europeans  ad- 
vanced over  the  continent  than  the  bison  or  "  buffalo  " 
(Bos  amcricanus),  and  none  more  important  alike  to  the 
Indian  and  the  white  man.  The  part  played  by  this  rela- 
tive of  the  domestic  ox  in  the  history  of  the  country  is  not 
only  instructive,  but  one  of  the  best  illustrations  that  can 
be  furnished  of  the  practical  extermination  of  a  species 
through  the  greed  and  lack  of  forethought  of  so-called 
civilized  man. 

The  bison  is  a  shaggy,  brown  animal,  about  the  size  of 
the  well-known  Durham  breed  of  cattle,  but  with  a  larger 
head  and  a  prominent  hump  on  the  shoulders  (Fig.  31). 
The  hind  quarters  are  small  in  comparison  with  the  mas- 
sive head  and  shoulders,  and  appear  weak.  The  head, 
neck,  shoulders,  and  fore  legs  are  covered  with  thick 
matted  hair,  at  times  if>  inches  long  and  of  a  dark-brown 
colour  merging  into  black.  The  straight  Mack  hair  be- 
neath the  chin  of  the  bull  is  usually  sorne  [O  inches  in 
length,  and  as  the  animal  carries  its  head  low.  frequently 
sweeps  the  ground.  Back  of  the  medial  portion  of  the 
body  the  hair  is  short  and  of  a  yellow  ish-brow  11  colour,  or 
"between  dark  umber  and  a  living-liver  brown."  as  Audu- 
bon says.  There  is  much  variation  in  colour,  hdwever,  and 
distinct  varieties  have  been  stated  to  exist.      The  horns. 


2  76 


NORTH    AMERICA 


hoofs,  and  a  bare  space  about  the  nostrils  and  mouth  are 
black. 

The  weight  of  a  fully  grown  bull  is  about  2,000  pounds, 
and  of  a  cow  1 ,200  pounds. 

The  boundaries  of  the  region  in  which  the  bison  has 
been  seen  by  white  men,  together  with  the  dates  of  its 


Fig.  32. — Range  of  the  Bison. 

extermination  in  various  sections  of  the  country,  etc.,  are 
shown  in  Fig*  32.  In  about  1870  the  vast  herd  which 
ranged  over  the  treeless  plateaus  and  Prairie  plains  between 
the  Rio  Grande  and  Great  Slave  Lake  was  divided,  owing 
to  the  great  slaughter  that  occurred  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  into  two  herds,  one  of  which  had 
its  summer  range  in  Montana  and  neighbouring  territory, 


ANIMAL    LIFE  277 

but  moved  northward  in  summer  into  Canada,  while  the 
other  fed  on  the  plains  of  the  west  Texas  region  in  winter 
and  moved  northward  in  summer  as  far  as  southern  Ne- 
braska. In  each  case  a  southward  movement  was  begun 
as  winter  approached,  but  these  seasonal  changes  scarcely 
warrant  the  name  of  migrations. 

The  number  of  these  large  animals  living  between  the 
Mississippi  and  Rocky  Mountains  previous  to  1872,  even 
after  being  hunted  for  centuries  by  the  Indians  and  killed 
in  constantly  increasing  numbers  each  year  by  white 
men  for  half  a  century,  can  only  be  reckoned  in  millions. 
Many  trustworthy  observations  are  on  record,  however, 
from  which  the  vastness  of  the  herds  can  be  approxi- 
mately judged.  For  example,  R.  I.  Dodge  thus  refers 
to  a  herd  which  he  passed  through  in  the  Arkansas 
Valley  in  May,  1871,  when  it  was  moving  northward: 
"  The  great  herd  could  not  have  averaged,  at  rest,  over 
15  or  20  individuals  to  the  acre,  but  was  not  less  than  25 
miles  wide,  and  from  reports  of  hunters  and  others  it  was 
about  five  days  in  passing  a  given  point,  or  not  less  than 
50  miles  deep.  From  the  top  of  Pawnee  Rock  I  could 
see  from  6  to  10  miles  in  almost  every  direction.  This 
whole  vast  space  was  covered  with  buffalo,  looking  at  a 
distance  like  one  compact  mass,  the  visual  angle  not  per- 
mitting the  ground  to  be  seen."  From  this  and  other 
observations,  W.  T.  Hornaday  has  estimated  that  the  herd 
referred  to  numbered  not  less  than  4,000,000  individuals. 
From  the  records  kept  by  railroad  companies  of  the  num- 
ber of  skins  shipped  over  their  lines  and  other  evidences, 
it  has  been  computed  that  of  the  southern  herd  mentioned 
above  over  3,500,000  individuals  were  killed  during  the 
years  1872,  1873,  and  1874.  The  northern  herd  seems  to 
have  been  at  least  as  large  as  the  southern  one,  so  that 
the  entire  number  on  the  Great  plateaus  in  ;iii\  one  year 
for  the  decade  preceding  [870  was  not  less  than  8,000,000, 
and  even  this  vast  number  seems  to  be  an  underestimate. 

The  great   slaughter  of  the   southern   herd   occurred 
froni    [872  to   1X71.  and  of  the  northern  herd  ten  years 
later.     In  [889,  a-  stated  by  Hornaday,  the  bisons  running 
19 


278  NORTH    AMERICA 

at  large  in  North  America  numbered  but  635.  In  1902 
the  number  of  bison  in  the  United  States  was  reported 
to  be  800,  the  increase  being  due  to  protection  extended 
to  the  herds,  and  perhaps  also  to  a  more  accurate  count. 

Fur-Bearing  Animals. — Of  the  animals  of  North  Amer- 
ica which  are  taken  for  their  fur,  the  seal  and  sea-otter 
have  already  been  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  brief 
review  presented  of  the  life  of  the  continental  shelf.  As 
is  well  known,  the  colder  regions  of  the  earth  are  the  ones 
which  yield  the  most  valuable  furs,  and  in  the  fur  trade  of 
the  world  this  continent,  on  account  of  its  wide  expansion 
at  the  north,  has  taken  the  leading  place  as  a  producer.  In 
fact,  the  fur  trade  is  a  prominent  feature  in  the  history  of 
America,  and  one  whose  followers  experienced  great  vicis- 
situdes and  countless  adventures. 

The  animals  that  tempted  the  tireless  and  fearless  sons 
particularly  of  France,  England,  Scotland,  and  Russia  to 
build  their  fortified  trading-posts  throughout  the  subarc- 
tic forest  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mackenzie  and 
Yukon,  were  principally  the  beaver,  sable,  ermine,  fox, 
mink,  wolverene,  bear,  otter,  wolf,  lynx,  musk-rat,  skunk, 
marmot,  etc.  Nearly  all  of  these  animals  are  forest  dwel- 
lers, and  several  of  them,  as  the  beaver,  otter,  mink,  and 
musk-rat,  haunt  the  shores  of  streams  and  lakes.  Of  the 
sable,  there  are  two  species,  known  as  the  marten  and 
the  fisher.  The  bears  are  represented  by  at  least  four  spe- 
cies. The  foxes  number  at  least  a  dozen  species,  of  which 
four  are  especially  prized  for  the  beauty  of  their  fur, 
namely,  the  arctic,  red,  cross,  and  silver. 

While  the  fur-bearing  animals  named  above  are  char- 
acteristic of  the  life  of  the  boreal  region  of  North  America, 
a  number  of  the  species,  and,  in  fact,  nearly  all  of  them, 
range  southward  into  the  austral  region,  especially  in  the 
more  humid  and  generally  forest-covered  portions  of  both 
the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  mountains,  while  one  of  the  most 
important  as  regards  the  beauty  of  its  fur — the  otter  (Lutra 
canadensis),  frequently  termed  the  land-otter,  in  order  not 
to  confound  it  with  its  larger  and  far  more  valuable  cousin, 
the  sea-otter  {Enhydra  marina) — reaches  the  torrid  region 


ANIMAL    LIFE  279 

and  is  still  living  in  Florida,  and  has  been  reported  as 
occurring  in  Central  America. 

Of  all  the  fur-bearing  animals  referred  to  above,  the 
most  valuable  when  the  total  number  of  skins  that  have 
been  taken  is  considered,  and  in  many  ways  the  most 
interesting,  is  the  beaver,  of  which  but  one  living  species 
(Castor  canadensis),  closely  allied  to  the  beaver  of  northern 
Europe,  is  known  in  America.  Fully  grown  individuals 
are  about  3  feet  in  length,  one  third  of  which  is  to  be 
credited  to  the  broad,  flat,  scale-covered  tail,  and  weighs 
some  50  or  60  pounds.  The  outer  coat  of  its  pelage  con- 
sists of  rather  coarse  brown  hair,  beneath  which  there  is  a 
fine,  soft,  dark  fur,  which  makes  its  skin  of  commercial 
value.  In  dressing  the  skins  the  hair  is  plucked,  the  fine  fur 
beneath  being  clipped  to  a  uniform  length  and  usually  dyed. 
The  formerly  well-known  beaver  hat  was  made  from  this 
fur,  but  in  recent  years  silk  has  taken  its  place.  The  im- 
portance of  the  American  beaver  is  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  some  7,000,000  skins  have  been  sold  in  London  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  since  the  year  1752.  Not 
only  is  the  fur  of  the  beaver  in  demand,  but  its  flesh,  and 
especially  the  muscles  of  the  tail,  are  prized  for  food  by 
hunters  and  others  who  live  the  free,  open-air  life  of  the 
frontier,  although  it  is  seldom  exposed  for  sale  in  the  mar- 
kets of  cities. 

The  beaver  is  of  interest  to  the  geographer  not  only 
on  account  of  its  wide  distribution,  which  embraced  the 
entire  continent  wherever  the  willow,  birch,  alder,  etc.,  on 
which  it  subsisted,  could  grow,  from  northern  Mexico  to 
tlie  Arctic  Ocean,  but  for  the  reason  that  it  made  more 
conspicuous  and  lasting  changes  in  the  minor  features  of 
the  surface  of  the  land  than  any  other  mammal.  One  of 
its  peculiar  habits  is  that  it  gnaws  down  trees  frequently 
6  or  8  inches  in  diameter,  and  after  cutting  them  into  sticks 
a  few  feet  in  length,  uses  them  in  making  dams  across 
small  streams.  These  dams  were  buill  in  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  all  through  the  forested  regions,  and 
being  plastered  with  mud,  and  still  further  enlarged  and 
.strengthened  by  the  ac<  umulation  of  driftwood  and  [eaves, 


2S0  NORTH    AMERICA 

held  the  waters  of  the  streams  in  check  and  caused  them 
to  expand  so  as  to  form  small  lakes,  ponds,  and  swamps. 
These  beaver-dam  lakes  are  common  even  at  the  present 
day,  and  many  of  them  which  have  been  filled  with  sedi- 
ment or  drained  furnish  rich  lands,  now  utilized  for  gar- 
dens and  cultivated  fields.  In  Michigan  these  beaver-dam 
lakes  furnish  the  rich  black  soil  so  favourable  for  the  rais- 
ing of  celery  and  other  vegetables.  The  beaver  has  dis- 
appeared from  all  but  the  wilder  and  more  inaccessible 
portions  of  the  continent,  but  the  influence  of  the  changes 
it  made  in  the  drainage  of  the  land  will  endure  for  many 
generations  to  come. 

Of  the  fur-bearing  animals  mentioned  above,  none  are 
more  definitely  American  than  the  skunks,  or,  to  use  a 
more  felicitous  name,  Mephitis,  which  ranges  from  central 
Canada  to  central  Mexico,  and  is  represented  by  four  or 
five  species.  As  stated  by  Elliott  Cones  in  his  instructive 
monograph  on  the  North  America  Mustclidcc,  the  skunks 
are  closely  related  to  the  badgers,  being  heavy-bodied, 
short-legged,  stout  in  build,  with  hairy  tails  and  generally 
loose  pelage.  They  neither  climb  trees  nor  swim  in  water; 
their  gait  is  slow,  and  they  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be 
hurried,  even  in  the  face  of  danger;  their  retreats  are  bur- 
rows in  the  ground  or  dens  in  rocks  and  hollow  logs,  and 
sometimes  in  the  nooks  and  corners  of  dwellings  and  out- 
houses. Their  most  common  representative,  Mephitis  mc- 
phitica,  is  a  beautiful  animal  some  15  or  20  inches  in 
length,  exclusive  of  its  bushy  tail,  which  is  usually  12  to 
15  inches  long.  The  head  is  small,  the  ears  low  and  short, 
and  the  hair  of  a  glossy  black,  relieved  by  conspicuous 
white  markings  which  are  not  only  irregular  in  shape,  but 
vary  with  individuals.  The  most  marked  characteristic  of 
the  skunks  is  their  ability  to  emit  at  will  a  fluid  which  has 
the  most  disagreeable  and  sickening  odour  known.  This 
fluid  is  secreted  in  two  glands,  each  about  one  inch  in  diam- 
eter, situated  at  the  base  of  the  tail  and  opening  into  the 
rectum,  but  has  no  connection  with  the  secretions  of  the 
kidneys,  and  is  probably  seldom  discharged  except  when 
the  animal  is  annoyed.     It  is  a  unique  and  most  efficient 


ANIMAL    LIFE  281 

means  of  defence.  In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  skunks  belong  to  the  family 
Mustalidce,  which  is  characterized  in  part  by  the  odoriferous 
secretions  present  in  its  various  species,  but,  above  all 
others,  the  odours  emitted  by  the  genera  under  considera- 
tion are  the  most  dreadful.  The  stench  produced  by  these 
animals  when  startled  or  enraged  is  not  only  horrible  be- 
yond description,  but  endures  for  months  and  even  a  year 
or  more.  The  yellow  liquid  which  is  ejected  is  squirted  in 
a  fine  spray  for  a  distance  of  some  6  or  8  feet,  but  its 
odour  may  sometimes  be  perceived,  even  when  the  wind  is 
still,  for  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 

The  skunk  having  this  one  unconquerable  means  of 
defence  from  all  its  enemies  except  man,  exhibits  evidence 
of  degeneration  in  other  respects.  When  discharging  its 
odoriferous  fluid  it  faces  its  enemy,  who  is  held  at  bay  or 
retreats,  and  hence,  not  being  compelled  to  run,  has  ac- 
quired a  slow,  wavering  gait  and  deliberate  movements; 
having  no  occasion  to  ascend  trees  for  safety,  it  has  lost 
or  failed  to  develop  the  ability  to  climb;  and  its  lack  of 
other  powers  which  are  highly  developed  in  its  near  of 
kin  may  be  used  in  illustration  in  a  similar  way.  It  is 
practically  removed  from  the  attacks  of  enemies  except- 
ing dogs  and  other  canines  and  some  birds  of  prey,  but 
has  to  adapt  itself  to  conditions  of  climate  and  food  supply. 
In  winter  in  the  northern  portion  of  its  habitat  it  becomes 
more  or  less  torpid,  and  during  the  coldest  weather  usually 
hibernates,  thus  lessening  the  exertion  required  to  pro- 
cure sustenance.  When  the  temperature  is  not  excessively 
low  it  seeks  its  food,  which  consists  of  insects,  birds'  eggs, 
small  reptiles,  mice,  etc.,  and  in  settled  regions  visits  the 
poultry-yards,  and  thus  increases  the  enmity  extended  to 
it  by  all  mankind,  who  have  ever  been  disgusted  by  its 
odours.  Another  objectionable  fact  in  reference  to  this 
despised  yet,  we  may  perhaps  say,  respectfully  treated  animal, 
is  that  it>  bite  >< tmetimes  pr<  iduces  hydr<  >ph< ibia. 

The  skunks  are  not  only  widely  distributed  in  North 
America,  occupying  perhaps  a  larger  area  in  the  austral 
than  thev  do  in  the  boreal  reerion,  but  are  influenced  t'*  a  less 


282  NORTH    AMERICA 

extent  by  climatic  and  topographic  conditions  than  prob- 
ably any  other  genera  among  our  mammals.  It  lives 
among  mountains  and  on  plateaus  and  plains,  and  in  for- 
ests as  well  as  on  the  open  prairies,  and  extends  from 
humid  regions  like  eastern  Canada  and  New  England  to 
the  drv,  semidesert  valley  of  New  Mexico,  and  from  the 
cold  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  central  Canada  to  the 
warm  Gulf  States.  Although  offensive,  and  everywhere 
declared  a  nuisance,  and  persecuted  as  such,  as  well  as 
trapped  and  hunted  for  its  pelt,  its  range  has  been  de- 
creased but  little  since  the  settlement  of  the  country  by 
Europeans,  although  its  numbers  are  greatly  reduced.  Its 
beautiful  fur  when  deodorized  and  dyed  of  a  uniform  black 
is  sold  under  the  name  "  Alaskan  sable,"  "  black  marten." 
"  American  sable,"  etc.,  and  is  extensively  worn  even  by 
the  most  fashionably  attired  dames  of  every  land. 

The  Bears. — Of  the  bears  native  to  North  America,  as 
was  stated  by  S.  F.  Baird  in  1857,  the  number  of  species 
is  somewhat  indefinite,  but  four  are  commonly  recognised 
and  mention  is  sometimes  made  of  two  others.  This  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  number  of  species  of  the  genus  Ursus,  I 
believe,  still  exists,  and  in  itself  is  significant.  If  the  bears 
have  not  been  satisfactorily  classified,  as  is  apparently  the 
case,  it  suggests  that  they  exhibit  great  variations  and  that 
the  drawing  of  hard  and  fast  specific  boundaries  among 
them  is  difficult,  and  perhaps  impossible. 

The  species  which  are  usually  recognised  are  the  polar 
bear,  the  grizzly,  the  cinnamon,  and  the  black.  Of  the 
black  and  brown  or  cinnamon  bears  there  seems  to  be 
several  varieties,  some  of  which  are  perhaps  worthy  of 
being  considered  species.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  Baird  and  others  makes  the  cinnamon  a 
variety  of  the  black  bear.  Again  the  grizzly  and  cinnamon 
intergrade  in  such  a  manner  that  an  experienced  naturalist 
has  considered  them  to  be  but  extremes  of  a  single  species. 

The  polar  bear  is  distinguished  from  its  kindred,  at 
least  in  a  general  way,  by  its  large  size  and  white  or  yellow- 
ish-white colour.  These  and  other  differences  from  its 
relatives  have  led  naturalists  to  place  it  in  a  distinct  genus, 


ANIMAL    LIFE  283 

of  which  it  is  the  only  species.  It  is  circumpolar  in  its 
distribution,  and  in  America  occurs  along  the  coast,  seldom 
travelling  inland  except  during  the  breeding  season,  when 
it  is  sometimes  met  with  25  miles  from  the  ocean.  Its 
southern  range  on  the  Atlantic  coast  is  in  northern  Lab- 
rador, but  it  is  occasionally  carried  on  floating  ice  as  far 
•south  as  Newfoundland.  It  inhabits  the  shores  of  Hudson 
Bay  and  the  Arctic  Ocean.  On  the  west  coast  it  reaches 
Bering  Strait,  and  is  carried  on  floating  ice  to  the  islands 
in  the  northern  part  of  Bering  Sea,  and  at  rare  intervals 
reaches  the  Pribilof  Islands.  It  is  probably  strictly  car- 
nivorous, and  lives  principally  on  the  seal.  It  is  supposed 
to  be  the  largest  of  the  bear  tribe,  but  is  certainly  ap- 
proached if  not  rivalled  in  size  by  the  brown  bear  of  south- 
ern Alaska.  As  many  arctic  explorers  testify,  it  is  dan- 
gerous to  man  and  will  lead  in  an  attack. 

The  famous  grizzly  or  "  silver  tip  "  inhabits  the  Pacific 
mountains,  but  is  best  known  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
Sierra  Xevada.  Although  like  all  kindred  species  present- 
ing conspicuous  individual  variations,  it  is  usually  dark  in 
•colour,  with  white  tips  to  some  of  the  hairs.  The  pelage 
is  long,  almost  shaggy,  and  gives  the  animal  even  a  more 
formidable  appearance  than  its  great  size  and  strength  jus- 
tifies. It  is  not  only  one  of  the  largest  of  the  American 
bears,  ranking  in  this  respect  with  the  polar  bear  and 
the  largest  of  the  huge  brown  bears,  but  is  also  probably 
the  fiercest,  and  not  infrequently  has  been  known  to  attack 
man.  although  it  will  usually  retreat  from  the  presence  of 
human  beings  if  an  opportunity  is  available.  Full-grown 
individuals  are  about  8  feet  in  length  and  weigh  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  1,000  to  1.200  pounds. 

The  brown  bear,  of  which  there  are  perhaps  three  spe- 
cies, including  the  Barren-Ground  bear  of  the  north-cen- 
tral part  of  Canada,  are,  as  their  name  signifies,  of  a  brown 
or  cinnamon  colour,  but  presenl  great  variation  in  this 
■respect.  Some  are  of  a  decided  yellow,  while  others  be- 
come 'lark  and  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  true 
grizzly.  They  reach  a  -real  size,  particularly  in  southern 
Alaska,  and   possibly   in   certain   instances  even   exceed   the 


284  NORTH    AMERICA 

polar  bear  in  dimensions  and  weight.  The  tracks  of  one 
which  I  measured  near  Mount  St.  Elias  were  16  inches 
long  by  8  inches  wide,  and  the  stride  was  64  inches.  The 
range  of  the  brown  bear  is  confined  principally  to  the  Pa- 
cific mountains,  but  is  of  greater  extent  than  that  of  the 
true  grizzlies  and  includes  central  Canada. 

The  black  bears  are  of  almost  continental  distribution 
and  occurred  in  all  or  nearly  all  wooded  districts  before  the 
balance  of  natural  conditions  was  disturbed  by  the  coming 
of  the  white  man.  They  are  the  smallest  of  the  bear  tribe 
on  this  continent  and  are  usually  harmless,  but  at  times 
when  attacked  or  approached  suddenly,  especially  if  accom- 
panied by  their  young,  become  formidable  enemies.  Their 
colour  is  usually  a  glossy  black,  but  much  variation  occurs, 
especially  about  the  head,  and  this  and  other  differences 
are  thought  by  some  to  indicate  specific  distinctions.  A 
seemingly  well-marked  variety  occurring  in  southern 
Alaska,  which  has  a  thick  bluish-black  under-fur,  has  re- 
cently been  described  as  a  distinct  species. 

Near  relatives  of  the  bear  are  the  racoons,  of  which 
several  species  are  present,  one  being  abundant  in  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  United  States  and  the  other  in  the 
Pacific  mountains. 

The  Cats. — The  Fchdcc  are  represented  by  two  genera, 
Felis  and  Lynx,  each  of  which  contains  several  species. 

Of  the  true  cats,  the  largest  is  the  beautiful  jaguar,  or 
American  tiger,  Fclis  oiiza,  which  is  nearly  as  large,  and 
by  some  said  to  be  equal  in  size  to  its  Asiatic  relative.  It 
more  nearly  approaches  the  leopard,  however,  in  the  char- 
acter of  its  spots  as  well  as  in  its  arboreal  habit,  but  ex- 
ceeds it  in  size.  The  jaguar  is  some  4  feet  or  more  in 
length  to  the  base  of  the  tail,  and  the  tail  is  about  3  feet 
long.  Its  general  colour  is  a  soft-yellowish  passing"  into 
dark-brown  and  black,  with  large  rosette-  or  somewhat 
lozenge-shaped  spots,  which  take  the  form  of  indefinite 
rings  of  dark  fur  with  lighter  centres,  within  which  there 
are  one  or  two  dark  dots  or  eyes.  The  skins  are  fully  as 
beautiful  as  those  of  the  tiger  or  leopard,  and  are  highly 
prized  for  rugs,  and  in  some  cases  have  been  used  for 


ANIMAL    LIFE  285 

clothing.  A  dark,  nearly  black  variety  (or  perhaps  more 
properly,  examples  of  melanism)  has  been  described  as  a 
distinct  species,  and  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  black 
tiger. 

The  centre  of  distribution  of  the  jaguar  is  probably  in 
the  great  Amazonian  forest,  but  it  ranges  oyer  nearly  all  of 
South  America,  throughout  Central  America,  and  extends 
northward  to  Texas  and  perhaps  Louisiana. 

Next  to  the  jaguar  in  importance  is  the  widely  known 
panther.  Unlike  most  of  its  relatives,  this  species  has  an 
essentially  uniform  colour.  The  fur  on  the  back,  head,  and 
tail  is  of  a  tawny  brownish-yellow,  but  varies  somewhat 
with  changes  in  seasons.  The  under  parts  are  of  a  dirty 
white.  The  animal  when  full  grown  is  of  a  formidable 
size,  the  larger  examples  being  nearly  5  feet  long  from  the 
tip  of  the  nose  to  the  base  of  the  tail.  The  stout  cylin- 
drical tail  is  from  20  to  over  30  inches  long.  In  spite  of 
its  size  and  great  strength  the  panther  is  not  to  be  feared 
so  long  as  room  for  its  escape  is  open,  as  it  is  a  great  cow- 
ard. One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  concerning  this 
species  is  its  unusually  great  range.  Before  being  dis- 
turbed by  white  men  it  inhabited  practically  the  entire 
width  of  both  North  and  South  America,  from  Hudson 
Bay  to  Patagonia,  an  extreme  range  of  some  110  degrees 
of  latitude.  It  is  most  at  home  in  the  mountains  and  is 
seldom  seen  on  open  plains.  It  is  still  common  in  the 
Pacific  mountains  of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

Of  the  smaller  cats,  several  of  which  are  beautifully 
marked,  mention  may  be  made  of  the  ocelot  of  the  Texas 
region  and  the  lynx  or  American  wildcat.  The  latter,  of 
which  there  are  at  least  three  varieties,  is  yet  common, 
and  maintains  approximately  its  original  range,  which 
embraces  the  entire  width  of  the  continent  from  the  sub- 
arctic forest  at  least  as  far  south  as  northern  Mexico. 

The  Wolves. — In  the  history  of  the  establishment  of 
English  colonies  in  this  country,  and  throughout  the 
spread  of  civilization  across  the  continent,  many  accounts 
are  given  of  encounters  with  wolves.  These  stories  as 
they  have  been  handed  down  have  probably  in  many  in- 


286  NORTH    AMERICA 

stances  been  magnified,  but  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the 
larger  wolves,  such  as  the  gray  timber-wolf,  once  common 
in  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States,  when  assem- 
bled in  packs  and  pressed  by  hunger,  were  formidable  an- 
tagonists. 

Of  the  wolves,  four  species  are  usually  recognised,  but 
their  great  variation,  in  each  instance,  has  led  to  the  de- 
scription of  numerous  varieties,  some  of  which  have  by 
certain  writers  been  given  the  dignity  of  distinct  species. 
The  largest  is  the  gray  wolf,  which  is  white  or  grizzly  gray 
in  colour,  and  frequently  5  feet  or  more  in  length  and 
weighs  50  to  60  pounds.  Individuals  have  been  killed, 
however,  which  exceed  these  measures.  The  range  of  this 
species,  or  group  of  species  as  the  case  may  be,  was  origi- 
nally continental,  but  more  particularly  in  the  forested 
regions.  Its  hair,  which  is  frequently  4  inches  or  more  in 
length,  and  the  fine  thick  under-fur  make  the  skins  valu- 
able for  robes,  but  they  are  seldom  used  for  clothing, 
except  by  the  Indians  and  Eskimos.  The  hood  of  the 
outer  garment  worn  by  Eskimos,  termed  a  parkie,  is  fre- 
quently fringed  about  the  face-opening  with  the  long 
warm  hair  of  the  wolf. 

A  smaller  species,  the  coyote,  is  still  common  on  the 
western  plains,  and  is  termed  the  prairie-wolf.  It  is  a 
comparatively  small  animal,  although  frequently  3  feet  in 
length  of  body  with  a  bushy  tail  two-thirds  as  long,  and 
is  of  a  skulking,  cowardly  nature.  Its  colour  is  usually  a 
yellowish  gray,  and  its  skin,  although  used  for  robes,  is 
much  inferior  to  that  of  the  gray  wolf.  Its  range  is  from 
northern  Mexico  northward  throughout  the  great  plateaus, 
and  in  the  valleys  of  the  Pacific  mountains  into  Canada. 
It  is  usually  the  first  of  the  larger  mammals  the  traveller 
in  that  region  learns  the  existence  of,  even  at  the  present 
day.  Several  individuals  frequently  gather  together  just 
after  sunset  and  make  their  presence  known  by  barking 
and  howling  in  concert.  These  serenades  last  but  a  short 
time,  however,  and  are  likely  to  be  repeated  in  the  morn- 
ing just  before  sunrise.  During  the  night  the  animals 
composing  these  bands  seem  to  scatter  and  hunt  for  food 


ANIMAL    LIFE  287 

singly,  but  reunite  in  the  early  morning,  after  which  they 
again  separate  and  seek  secluded  individual  retreats. 

Brief  Mention  of  Other  Mammals. — In  order  to  convey 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  large  variety  and  richness  of  the 
North  American  mammalian  fauna  far  more  space  would 
be  required  than  is  at  present  available.  Indeed,  of  the 
smaller  mammals  much  more  research  is  evidently  needed 
before  even  the  number  of  genera  and  species  can  be  enu- 
merated, much  less  their  life  histories  and  economic  impor- 
tance made  known,  as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  species  previously  recognised  has  been  described 
during  the  past  two  or  three  years. 

Of  the  abundant  smaller  mammals,  none  are  more 
attractive  or  beautiful  than  the  arboreal  squirrels,  of  which 
several  species  are  widely  known.  One  of  these,  the  com- 
mon red  squirrel,  is  remarkable  for  its  wide  range  and 
adaptability  to  a  great  variety  of  conditions.  It  is  abun- 
dant in  the  valley  of  the  Yukon  and  even  north  of  the 
arctic  circle,  throughout  the  forest-covered  portions  of 
Canada,  and  as  far  south  as  the  South  Atlantic  States.  Of 
less  extensive  range  is  the  gray  squirrel  and  the  black 
squirrel,  common  in  New  England, and  the  somewhat  larger 
and  yet  more  beautiful  fox  squirrel  of  the  central  part  of  the 
continental  basin.  There  are  also  a  large  number  of  species 
of  ground  squirrels,  and  several  species  of  flying-squirrels. 
The  rodents  are  also  represented  by  the  marmots,  certain 
species  of  which  are  exceedingly  numerous  near  timber-line 
in  many  of  the  ranges  of  the  Pacific  mountains  as  Ear  north 
at  least  as  Mount  St.  Elias,  and  by  gophers,  chipmunks,  lem- 
mings, the  musk-rat,  porcupines,  rabbits,  hares,  rats,  mice, 
etc.  The  list  might  also  be  extended  by  enumerating  the 
bats,  shrews,  and  moles,  but  we  are  compelled  to  cut  short 
this  most  interesting  portion  of  our  review. 

Mammalian  Families  Peculiar  to  America. — While  there 
are  many  genera  and  species  of  mammals  found  only  on 
this  continent,  the  number  of  families  that  are  peculiar 
to  it  is  small.  Among  the  characteristic  families,  most  oi 
which,  however,  extend  into  South  America,  none  are  of 

greater  interest   in   the   study   of  geographical   distribution 


288  NORTH    AMERICA 

than  the  opossums,  of  which  there  are  3  genera  and  some 
22  species,  all  of  them  confined  to  the  New  World.  Of 
these,  two  species  are  common  in  North  America:  one, 
the  Virginia  opossum,  abundant  throughout  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  United  States  to  the  south  of  New  York, 
and  the  other  and  smaller  species,  which  inhabits  Mexico 
and  extends  northward  into  southern  California  and  Texas. 
Many  representatives  of  this  same  family  occur  in  Central 
and  South  America,  some  of  which  are  notable  on  account 
of  their  diminutive  size.  The  opossums  are  of  peculiar 
interest  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  the  only  repre- 
sentatives of  the  marsupials  now  living  outside  of  Austra- 
lia. Fossil  species  occur,  however,  in  the  Tertiary  rock  of 
Europe,  so  that  the  American  forms  cannot  be  considered 
as  indicating  a  recent  land  connection  between  this  conti- 
nent and  Australia. 

The  porcupines  are  also  representative  of  the  New 
World  fauna,  although  not  strictly  confined  to  it.  and 
belong  mostly  in  the  northern  continent.  The  Canadian 
porcupine  is  found  throughout  nearly  the  entire  forested 
portion  of  the  boreal  region  and  extends  as  far  south  as 
the  Middle  Atlantic  States,  and  an  allied  species,  but  of 
larger  size,  inhabits  a  portion  of  the  same  region  and  ex- 
tends to  the  Pacific  mountains  and  occurs  in  Alaska. 

The  racoons  are  strictly  American  and  inhabit  both 
continents.  They  are  common  in  the  forests  of  Central 
America  and  Mexico,  and  extend  as  far  north  as  central 
Canada. 

Of  the  several  families  of  smaller  and  less  well-known 
mammals  peculiar  to  this  continent,  mention  may  be  made 
of  the  pouched  rats  of  California. 

All  of  the  animals  to  which  attention  has  thus  far  been 
directed  are  now  living;  should  one  attempt  to  describe 
the  great  number  of  fossil  forms  whose  bones  have  been 
discovered  in  the  rocks,  the  menagerie  would  be  vastly 
enlarged,  and  many  exceedingly  strange  species,  genera, 
families,  and  even  larger  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
added  to  the  extended  procession. 


ANIMAL    LIFE  2S9 


THE    BIRDS 

When  one  attempts  to  write  an  account  of  the  birds  of 
North  America,  the  heavens  seem  darkened  with  such  a 
multitude  of  varied  and  beautiful  forms  and  the  air  filled 
with  such  a  discordant  clamour  mingled  with  the  sweetest 
of  music  that  failure  to  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
countless  numbers  and  diversity  of  the  feathered  throng 
within  the  compass  of  a  few  pages  must  be  recognised 
from  the  start. 

The  important  place  held  by  the  birds  of  North  Amer- 
ica in  the  avifauna  of  the  world,  may  perhaps  be  best  indi- 
cated by  noting  first  of  all  what  orders  and  families  are 
without  representatives  among  them. 

The  orders  under  which  the  birds  of  the  world  are 
arranged  in  the  scheme  of  classification  adopted  by  Wal- 
lace in  his  great  work  on  the  geographical  distribution  of 
animals  are  as  follows: 

CLASS AVES 

Orders.  Examples. 

1.  Passeres Includes  the  greater  number  of  the  smaller  birds,  such  as 

kingbirds,  flycatchers,  larks,  jays,  crows,  blackbirds,  finches, 
sparrows,  warblers,  chickadees,  swallows,  thrushes,  etc., 
numbering  in  North  America  some  328  species  and  many 
subspecies. 

2.  Picarire Woodpeckers,    cuckoos,    toucans,    kingfishers,    swifts,    goat- 

suckers, humming-birds,  etc. 

3.  Psittaci Parrots  only. 

4.  Columbse  .  .  .  .Pigeons  and  the  dodo. 

5.  Gallinse Grouse,  pheasants,  quail,  jungle-fowl,  turkeys,  guinea-fowl, 

etc. 

6.  Opisthocomi..The  hoazin  of  Guiana  and  Brazil  only. 

7.  Accipitres Eagles,  owls,  vultures,  hawks,  buzzards,  falcons,  etc. 

8.  (Irallx- Rails,  snipes,  plovers,  cranes,  herons,  storks,  flamingoes,  etc. 

<).  Anseres Ducks,  geese,  gulls,  petrel  ,  peli<  an  .  penguins, loons,  auks,  etc. 

to.  Struthiones. .  .Ostrich,  rhea,  cassowaries,  emeus,  apteryx. 

<  )f  these  ten  orders,  rill  but  two  are  abundantly  repre- 
sented in  North  America.  The  missing  orders  include  the 
ostrich-like  birds,  of  which  the  only  species  in  the  New 
World  is  the  rhea.  of  the  southern  portion  of  South  America, 


290  NORTH    AMERICA 

and  the  pecular  hoazin,  represented  by  a  single  species  found 
in  Guiana  and  Brazil. 

The  eight  orders  under  which  the  birds  of  North  Amer- 
ica have  been  arranged  (other  classifications,  however,  have 
been  adopted  by  various  naturalists)  have  again  been  sub- 
divided into  families,  genera,  species,  etc.  According  to 
Wallace's  summary,  the  8  orders  referred  to  contain  124 
families,  of  which  75  are  not  represented  in  North  Amer- 
ica to  the  north  of  the  lowlands  of  Mexico,  while  47  fami- 
lies are  present.  Of  these  47  families,  25  are  essentially 
of  world-wide  distribution,  and  only  1,  containing  a  single 
species,  a  small  wren-like  bird  of  the  genus  Chamcca, 
found  in  California,  is  peculiar  to  the  fauna  of  the  con- 
tinent. 

As  the  North  American  continent  under  the  arrange- 
ment adopted  for  the  series  of  books  of  which  the  one  in 
hand  forms  a  part,  is  considered  as  including  the  West  In- 
dies, Mexico,  and  Central  America,  the  above  summary 
does  not  represent  its  entire  bird  fauna,  but  presents,  per- 
haps, the  best  general  idea  of  it  that  is  at  present  attainable. 
To  include  the  birds  of  the  tropical  portion  of  the  conti- 
nent would  add  greatly  to  the  number  of  species,  but  I 
believe  not  materially  to  the  number  of  families  and  orders, 
as  given  above. 

In  reviewing  the  distribution  of  the  land  birds  of  North 
America  to  the  north  of  Mexico,  but  including  lower 
California,  J.  A.  Allen  places  the  total  number  of  genera, 
as  given  in  the  check-list  of  the  American  Ornithologists' 
Union,  at  181.  Of  these,  55,  or  30  per  cent,  are  circum- 
polar  or  otherwise  wide-ranging  Old  World  forms;  126 
genera,  or  70  per  cent,  are  American,  of  which  35,  or  28 
per  cent,  are  essentially  tropical,  leaving  91  genera,  or 
about  50  per  cent,  as  distinctly  North  American. 

The  number  of  species  in  the  avifauna  of  the  continent,, 
according  to  the  latest  check-list  published  by  the  Amer- 
ican Ornithologists'  Union  (1895),  is  768,  together  with 
a  large  number  of  subspecies.  If  the  tropical  portion  of 
the  continent  were  included,  this  number  would  be  greatly 
increased  and  possibly  doubled. 


ANIMAL    LIFE  291 

A  further  generalization  has  been  advanced  by  Allen, 
who  states  that  in  the  arctic  portion  of  the  continent  the 
number  of  genera  of  birds  present  during  the  breeding 
season  is  65,  of  which  only  5  are  exclusively  American. 
In  the  cold  temperate  belt  120  genera  are  represented, 
of  which  98  are  circumpolar  and  22  American.  In  the 
warm  temperate  belt  95  genera  occur  which  do  not  range 
into  the  cold  temperate  belt,  and  of  these  only  12  are  Old 
World  forms,  while  83  are  exclusively  American,  and  in 
addition  60  genera  are  common  to  both  the  cold  and  the 
warm  temperate  zone,  of  which  46  are  represented  in  the 
fauna  of  the  Old  World,  while  14  are  American.  This 
gives  155  genera  for  the  warm  temperate  zone,  of  which 
58  are  Old  World  and  97  exclusively  American.  There  are 
besides  50  essentially  tropical  genera  which  extend  into 
the  warm  temperate  zone,  of  which  43  are  American  and 
7  tropicopolitan.  The  avifauna  of  the  warm  temperate  zone 
thus  contains  a  total  of  205  genera. 

The  above  enumeration  indicates  the  rapid  increase 
in  the  variety  of  bird  life  met  with  as  one  travels  from  the 
arctic  to  the  Gulf  coast  of  the  continent,  and  in  this  con- 
nection it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  land  contracts  in 
breadth  towards  the  south.  In  number  of  individuals, 
however,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  are  less  per  square  mile  at 
the  north  than  at  the  south  during  the  breeding  season. 

There  is  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  Old  World  forms 
inhabiting  North  America  from  north  to  south.  A  similar 
decrease  in  mammalian  species  common  to  America  and 
Eurasia  has  previously  been  referred  to,  and  the  same  ex- 
planation applies  in  each  case,  namely,  the  near  approach 
of  the  land  areas  of  the  Old  and  the  New  World  at  the  north. 
and  the  actual  union  of  the  two  continents  in  late  geological 
time. 

As  has  been  shown  by  Allen,  the  species  of  birds  of 
the  temperate  and  boreal  /ones  of  North  America  were 
derived  in  part  from  the  Old  World,  in  part  from  types 
almost  universally  distributed  throughout  the  warmer  lati- 
tudes, and  in  part  from  tropical  America,  but  t<»  a  marked 
extent  the  species  presenl  developed  where  they  arc  now 


292  NORTH    AMERICA 

found.  This  generalization  is  in  harmony  with  the  geo- 
graphical relations  of  the  continent  to  other  land  areas,  and 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  evolution. 

Migrations. — Among  the  many  facts  of  interest  to  the 
geographer  in  connection  with  the  bird  life,  none  present 
a  more  fascinating  field  for  study  than  the  annual  migra- 
tions in  which  a  very  large  number  of  the  species  par- 
ticipate. 

As  one  travels  northward  from  Mexico  or  the  Gulf 
States,  the  number  of  species  of  birds  which  remain  in 
essentially  the  same  area  throughout  the  year,  or  the  resi- 
dents as  they  are  termed,  becomes  less  and  less.  In  New 
England  and  about  the  southern  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes 
there  are  about  30  species  which  remain  all  winter  and 
may  justly  claim  to  be  citizens.  Besides  these,  there  are 
several  visitors  that  come  from  the  north  and  belong  to 
the  vast  army  of  migrants,  but  which  are  contented  with 
a  comparatively  small  change  of  position  during  the  peri- 
ods of  greatest  cold  or  heaviest  snow.  In  the  far  north 
the  number  of  residents  is  still  more  restricted.  On  the 
tundras  fringing  the  arctic  coast  even  the  snow-owls,  snow- 
buntings,  and  the  ptarmigans,  the  hardiest  of  birds,  move 
southward  during  the  winter  to  the  shelter  of  the  subarctic 
forest,  and  bird  life  on  the  vast  frozen  morasses  is  practi- 
cally, if  not  absolutely,  wanting. 

The  millions  of  birds  that  journey  southward  each  fall 
begin  their  return  migrations  at  the  first  promise  of  spring. 
Even  during  unusually  mild  spells  of  weather  in  winter, 
temporary  northward  movements  occur.  The  migratory 
birds  are  actuated  by  such  a  strong  desire  to  regain  their 
nesting  places  and  summer  homes  that  they  embrace  every 
opportunity  to  journey  towards  them,  and  not  infrequently 
suffer  severely  for  the  risks  they  take.  In  some  instances 
species  which  have  begun  their  northward  flight  too  soon 
are  killed  by  thousands  owing  to  a  return  of  severely  cold 
weather  or  die  for  lack  of  food. 

The  first  definite  northward  migration  in  the  southern 
portion  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  begins  during  exception- 
ally favourable  years  as  early  as  the  end  of  January,  but 


ANIMAL    LIFE  293 

the  great  movement  of  the  feathered  hosts  is  not  usually 
at  its  height  before  the  middle  of  March  or  the  first  of 
April.  In  New  England  the  current  of  migration  begins 
between  the  middle  of  February  and  the  first  of  March, 
and  increases  in  strength  until  the  middle  of  May,  when 
it  is  at  its  height,  and  then  rapidly  declines  and  is  prac- 
tically over  by  the  beginning  of  June.  In  the  far  north, 
the  first  arrival  from  the  southward,  and  that  a  species 
which  does  not  make  a  long  annual  journey,  usually  ap- 
pears early  in  April.  At  Point  Barrow,  the  most  northern 
portion  of  Alaska,  as  was  observed  by  John  Murdock  in 
1882  and  1883,  the  first  harbinger  of  spring  was  a  snow- 
bunting,  which  arrived  the  first  year  on  April  9th.  The 
northward-flowing  tide  of  bird  life  ends  early  in  July  in 
the  region  of  the  Yukon,  and  by  the  middle  of  that  month  the 
vast  flocks  have  been  separated  and  the  many  mates  have 
found  their  nesting  places.  The  time  taken  for  the  general 
movement  is  thus  in  the  neighbourhood  of  four  months. 

The  northward  flight  of  the  birds  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
one  continuous  journey,  but  like  many  other  movements 
in  nature,  progresses  by  pulsations.  Well-defined  "  bird- 
waves  "  have  been  recognised  especially  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  The  direct  or  immediate  cause  of  the  starting  of 
these  waves  of  life  is  the  coming  of  a  wave  of  heat.  Sec- 
ondary or  modifying  conditions  are  furnished  by  strength 
and  direction  of  the  wind,  cloudiness,  rain,  etc.  As  the 
weather  in  spring-time  is  fickle,  and  its  variations  not  the 
same  for  any  two  consecutive  years,  so  the  gathering  of 
the  birds  into  flocks  and  their  northward  flights  vary, 
although  for  a  term  of  years  the  arrival  of  a  given  species 
at  a  particular  station  does  not  depart  far  from  a  mean 
date.  With  the  northward  sweep  of  the  waves  of  bird  life 
over  the  temperate  and  boreal  portions  <»f  the  continent 
comes  the  awakening  of  plant  life,  hut  the  birds,  to  a 
marked  extent,  precede  the  unfolding  of  tin-  flowers.  This 
marvellous  renewal  <>f  tin-  life  of  the  land  after  the  long 
cold  winter  makes  the  budding  and  nesting  spring  time 
the  mosl  joyous  portion  "f  the  year,  and  one  which  exerts 
a  marked  effeel   on  human  thoughl   and  activities.      I  In- 


294  NORTH    AMERICA 

spring-time  awakening  in  all  nature  is  like  a  resurrection,, 
and  has  apparently  exerted  an  influence  on  the  religions  of 
the  world. 

The  bird-waves  referred  to  above  are  characterized  at 
the  start  by  the  presence  of  great  numbers  of  a  single  spe- 
cies, but  as  they  progress,  scattering  occurs,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  greatest  movements  in  the  northern  portion 
of  the  United  States  a  large  number  of  species  frequently 
arrive  at  a  given  locality  in  a  single  night.  At  sunset  the 
groves  may  be  nearly  tenantless  and  silent,  while  at  sun- 
rise they  are  alive  with  the  flitting  of  wings  of  many  col- 
ours, and  the  air  pulsates  with  many  different  songs. 

Judging  from  extended  observations  on  migrations 
made  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  definite  waves  of  bird 
life  which  sweep  northward  with  the  spring-tide  of  tem- 
perature are  in  some  instances  ioo  or  200  miles  long  and 
have  a  breadth  of  perhaps  a  score  of  miles.  The  distance 
between  the  waves  varies  with  variations  in  the  weather 
and  perhaps  other  causes,  and  as  they  progress  they  ap- 
parently become  less  definite  and  at  the  north  have  yet  to 
be  recognised. 

The  migrations  of  the  birds  are  performed  principally 
at  night.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States  dur- 
ing the  hours  of  darkness  in  early  spring,  even  when  cloudi- 
ness prevails  or  the  land  is  veiled  in  mist,  the  voices  of  geese 
may  frequently  be  heard  overhead,  proving  that  unseen  flocks 
are  then  winging  their  way  northward.  About  the  light- 
houses along  the  coast  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  when  migration  is  in  progress,  dead  birds  are  fre- 
quently found  in  considerable  numbers  and  of  various  spe- 
cies. In  these  cases  the  birds  are  evidently  attracted  by 
the  lights  and  killed  on  striking  the  windows  that  protect 
them.  This  occurs  particularly  on  stormy  or  cloudy  nights, 
when  the  birds  fly  low.  Several  of  the  larger  species  of 
birds,  as  the  geese,  ducks,  cranes,  etc.,  which  are  strong  of 
wing,  make  long  flights  without  resting.  In  many  instances. 
a  single  stage  in  a  journey  may  include  500  or  600  miles. 
Most  of  the  smaller  birds,  however,  fly  comparatively  short 
distances  between  the  pauses  made  for  rest  and  food. 


ANIMAL    LIFE  295 

A  species  on  reaching  the  northern  portion  of  the 
route  over  which  it  usually  migrates  scatters,  and  the  indi- 
viduals mate,  nests  are  built,  and  young'  reared.  At  the 
approach  of  cold  weather  reassemblage  occurs,  frequently 
great  flocks  being  formed,  and  the  southern  movement 
begins.  The  southward  migration  is  less  conspicuous  in 
most  instances  than  the  movement  en  masse  of  the  birds 
in  the  spring,  and  so  far  as  now  seems  to  be  recognised 
is  not  divided  into  definite  waves. 

While  the  winter  habitat  of  most  birds  in  the  temper- 
ate and  boreal  portions  of  the  continent  is  to  the  south  of 
their  summer  homes,  the  annual  migration  is  not  in  all 
cases  great  in  amount.  Some  species  move  only  a  few- 
hundred,  or  possibly  a  few  score,  miles.  Even  the  winter 
residents  make  short  migrations,  dependent  on  weather 
conditions.  The  greater  part  of  the  migratory  birds,  how- 
ever, pass  the  winter  in  the  Gulf  States,  Mexico,  the  West 
Indies,  and  Central  and  South  America.  In  some  cases 
they  go  well  to  the  south  of  the  equator.  The  annual 
flight  going  and  coming  measured  in  a  straight  line,  be- 
tween the  nesting  place  and  the  winter  home,  cannot  be 
less  in  many  instances  than  from  8,000  to  10.000  or  12,000 
miles.  An  interesting  fact  in  this  connection  is  that  cer- 
tain species  follow  definite  routes.  The  region  moved 
over  annually,  if  marked  on  a  map,  would  resemble  two 
open  or  partially  opened  fans,  with  their  handles  pointing 
towards  each  other  and  connected  by  a  narrow  band. 

The  causes  of  the  annual  migrations  of  birds  have  re- 
ceived much  study  and  been  the  subject  of  much  specula- 
tion. The  general  consensus  of  opinion  in  this  connection 
seems  to  be  that  the  birds  are  controlled  largely  by  what 
we  in  our  ignorance  term  instinct.  The  true  beginning 
of  the  migration  seems  to  be  in  the  fall,  when  the  birds  are 
driven  from  their  homes  by  cold  or,  perhaps  more  accu 
rately  in  most  cases,  by  scarcity  of  food.  This,  however, 
is  not  the  whole  story,  since  many  species  start  southward 
before  cold  weather  approaches  and  while  food  is  yel  abun- 
dant. Then,  too,  crippled  individuals  have  been  known 
to    urvive  the  winter  in  regions  from  which  their  summer 


296  NORTH    AMERICA 

companions  have  departed.  Instinct,  therefore,  plays  a 
part  in  even  the  fall  migration,  where  at  first  glance  suffi- 
cient physical  reasons  may  seemingly  be  claimed  for  it. 
During  the  spring  migration  the  birds  are  moved  by  a 
strong  impulse  to  regain  their  breeding-grounds.  Each 
species  seems  to  have  adapted  itself  to  certain  conditions 
of  temperature,  food,  etc.,  through  long  ages  of  develop- 
ment, and  acquired  a  subtle  faculty  of  regaining  the  envi- 
ronment to  which  it  is  best  adapted,  as  soon  as  the  ad- 
verse conditions  that  caused  it  to  leave  its  home  are  ame- 
liorated. How  a  particular  bird  is  enabled  to  return  to 
the  nest  it  built  the  year  previous  is  not  known.  The 
study  of  the  homing  instinct  of  pigeons  assists  in  this 
direction,  however,  and  suggests  that  birds  are  endowed 
with  something  answering  to  a  sixth  sense — that  is,  a  sense 
of  direction  or  of  orientation. 

Spring-time  Music. — The  northward-flowing  tide  of  life 
each  spring  brings  to  the  temperate  zone  of  North  Amer- 
ica a  marvellous  change  not  only  in  colour  and  movements, 
but  in  sound.  This  is  the  season  of  bird  courtship  and 
more  than  usual  happiness  among  the  feathered  millions. 
From  shore  to  shore  of  the  continent  a  chorus  more  seduc- 
tive than  sirens'  songs  pulsates  on  the  breezes. 

The  winter  is  characteristically  a  season  of  silence.  The 
sounds  heard  at  a  distance  from  human  habitations  are 
mainly  those  produced  by  inanimate  nature.  The  wind 
causes  varied  discords  amid  the  bare  branches  of  the  de- 
ciduous trees  or  sings  weird  melodies  in  the  pines. 
Strange  muffled  roars  come  from  the  frozen  lakes,  as  the 
ice  contracts  and  breaks  during  periods  of  excessive  cold. 
The  frost  in  tree  trunks  causes  sharp  explosions.  The 
ice-covered  streams  are  still  except  where  cataracts  inter- 
rupt their  even  flow.  In  the  profound  silence  of  a  calm 
winter  night  the  distant  dismal  howl  of  a  wolf,  the  cry  of 
an  owl,  or  the  bark  of  a  fox  alone  reminds  one  that  life 
still  continues,  but  these  animate  sounds  are  far  more  fre- 
quently absent  than  present.  With  the  coming  of  the 
spring  there  is  a  marvellous  awakening  and  unfolding. 
The  brooks,  swollen  to  overflowing  by  the  melting  of  the 


ANIMAL    LIFE  297 

snow,  make  music  as  they  run.  The  northward  flight  of 
the  birds  brings  to  every  grove  a  chorus  of  song.  A  host 
of  batrachians  and  reptiles  bestir  themselves  after  a  long 
winter  sleep  and  vociferously  proclaim  their  presence. 
The  insect  world,  with  its  unnumbered  legions,  takes 
wing.  The  air  vibrates  with  millions  of  voices.  The  trees 
put  forth  their  leaves,  each  a  harp-string  which  responds  to 
the  touch  of  the  fingers  of  the  wind.  The  organ-notes  of 
the  thunder  again  startle  the  hibernating  echoes.  As  the 
winter  is  the  silent  season,  so  the  spring  is  the  time  of 
music. 

One  of  the  most  charming  of  the  many  phases  of  na- 
ture's concert  season  is  the  matin  songs  of  the  birds. 
Ere  the  eastern  sky  along  the  New  England  coast  becomes 
roseate  with  the  first  blush  of  morn,  the  twitter  of  birds 
may  be  heard  amid  the  shadowy  branches  of  the  trees. 
Soon  a  thrush  or  a  warbler  awakens  in  full  song,  and  is 
followed  by  a  host  of  other  voices,  until  the  air  pulsates 
with  music.  As  the  sun  rises  and  his  first  level  rays 
reveal  the  varied  tints  of  the  tree  tops,  the  many-voiced 
chorus  passes  the  height  of  its  ecstasy  and  the  music  grad- 
ually subsides.  But  the  glad  tidings  of  the  coming  of 
the  day  are  passed  westward  from  grove  to  grove  and  from 
meadow  to  meadow,  and  a  wave  of  song  sweeps  on  ahead 
of  the  wave  of  light,  induced  by  its  coming.  The  song- 
wave  spreads  to  the  north  and  south  and  flows  steadily 
westward  over  the  forest-covered  mountains,  across  the 
great  central  basin  of  the  continent,  breaking  on  the  tree- 
less plateaus  into  many  streams  which  follow  the  grove- 
fringed  rivers,  passes  through  the  depressions  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  although  weakened  in  the  arid  valleys 
beyond,  is  not  checked.  The  larks  there  listen  for  its 
coming  arid  pass  the  joyful  message  westward.  The  timid 
dwellers  in  the  great  forests  of  Oregon  awaken  at  the 
magic  sound  and  the  lofty  tree  tops  are  made  to  thrill  with 
the  voices  of  unseen  choirs  while  it  is  yet  night  in  the 
silent  aisles  below.  The  onward  rush  of  sound  is  nut  re- 
flected or  turned  back  by  the  lofty  Cascades,  but  flows 
tin-' itigh  their  pa sses  and  1 111I3  ceases  \\  lien  the  sea  birds  1  'i  the 


298  NORTH    AMERICA 

Pacific  renew  a  note  that  was  dropped  on  the  distant  At- 
lantic coast. 

One  of  the  most  fascinating  incidents  in  the  life  of  the 
explorer  in  his  lonely  camps  in  the  great  forests  or  amid 
the  solemn  mountains  is  the  coming  of  the  wave  of  song 
in  the  spring  and  early  summer-time  which  precedes  and 
accompanies  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

The  fascination  of  the  field  of  study  touched  upon  in 
this  chapter  invites  an  attempt  to  present  an  account  of 
some  of  the  more  characteristic  birds  of  North  America, 
and  to  endeavour  to  convey  to  the  reader  some  idea  of 
the  varied  reptilian,  fish,  and  invertebrate  life  of  the  con- 
tinent, but  the  limitations  of  space  prohibit  such  a  review. 
Even  the  great  problems  dealing  with  the  intimate  relation 
that  exists  between  geographical  conditions  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  animals  cannot  be  given  more  attention  than 
the  suggestions  already  offered. 

LITERATURE 

ALLEN,  J.  A.  The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Animals,  in  Bulletin 
of  the  United  States  Geological  and  Geographical  Survey  of  the 
Territories,  vol.  iv,  Washington,  1878,  pp.  313-377  ;  The  Geo- 
graphical Distribution  of  North  American  Mammals,  in  Bulletin 
of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  vol.  iv,  New  York, 
1892,  pp.  199-243. 

Heilprin,  Angelo.  The  Geographical  and  Geological  Distribution  of 
Animals.    International  Scientific  Series,  London  and  New  York,  1897. 

Osborn,  H.  F.  The  Rise  of  the  Mammalia  in  North  America.  New 
York,  1893. 

Cope,  E.  D.  Geographical  Distribution.  In  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1898,  Wash- 
ington, 1900,  pp.  1 199-1234. 

Merriam,  C.  Hart.  Life-Zones  and  Crop-Zones  of  the  United  States, 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Division  of  Biological  Sur- 
vey, Bulletin  No.  io,  Washington,  1898  ;  Results  of  a  Biological 
Survey  of  the  San  Francisco  Mottntain  Region  and  Desert  of  the 
Little  Colorado,  Arizona,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Division  of  Ornithology  and  Mammalogy  [Bulletin]  No.  3,  Washing- 
ton, 1890;  The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Life  in  North  Amer- 
ica, in  Proceedings  of  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington,  vol. 
vii,  1892,  pp.  1-64. 


CHAPTER    VI 

GEOLOGY 

Introduction 

In  the  preceding  chapters  an  attempt  has  been  made 
to  present  outline  sketches  of  the  geography,  fauna,  and 
flora  of  North  America  as  they  exist  now.  Yesterday,  we 
may  say  for  the  sake  of  emphasis,  there  were  differences 
from  what  exists  to-day  in  each  of  these  great  groups  of 
facts.  That  is,  changes  are  everywhere  in  progress.  With 
the  recognition  of  this  idea  comes  logically  the  conclusion 
that  similar  changes  must  have  taken  place  in  the  past,  and 
that  the  geography  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  its  flora  and 
fauna,  at  no  very  distant  time  must  have  been  markedly 
different  from  what  they  are  to-day.  To  test  this  hypothe- 
sis the  geologist  studies  the  records  preserved  in  the  rocks 
in  much  the  same  manner  that  the  historian  searches  the 
papvri  or  the  monuments  of  Egypt  to  discover  what 
•changes  in  the  affairs  of  men  have  occurred  since  the  days 
of  the  Pharaohs.  The  changes  referred  to  are  not  essen- 
tially different  from  those  now  in  progress,  but  in  reality 
the  two  are  parts  of  a  single  series.  For  a  very  long  time 
there  have  been  continents  and  oceans,  lakes  and  rivers, 
and  the  land  has  been  diversified  by  mountains  and  hills, 
plains  and  valleys,  in  the  same  general  way  as  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  When  once  the  idea  is  grasped  that  we  are 
living  in  a  geological  age,  and  that  there  is  no  break  be- 
tween the  present  and  the  past,  it  is  evident  that  the  his- 
torv  of  the  past  can  be  interpreted  by  means  of  the  results 
produced  by  known  causes.  Familiar  formulas  which  ex- 
press this  idea  are:  "  The  present  is  the  key  to  the  past  "; 
"Geography  is  the  geology  of  to-day,"  etc.  The  forces 
or  agencies  which  are  now  modifying  the  earth's  surface, 

299 


300  NORTH    AMERICA 

such  as  the  rending  of  rocks  by  changes  of  temperature 
and  the  action  of  frost,  erosion  and  deposition  by  streams, 
the  dash  of  ocean  waves  against  the  land,  volcanic  erup- 
tion, the  chemical  action  of  organic  acids,  movements  pro- 
ducing upheaval  and  subsidence,  etc.,  have  been  in  action 
for  geological  eras,  but  their  intensity  has  varied  from 
time  to  time  and  from  place  to  place. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  CONTINENT 

The  geological  history  of  North  America  is,  in  general, 
the  same  as  that  of  other  continents,  but  claims  attention 
in  certain  particulars,  largely  for  the  reason  that  with  the 
exception  of  Europe  it  has  been  studied  more  thoroughly 
than  any  other  comparable  land  area.  In  Europe,  through- 
out much  of  geological  time,  there  have  been  numerous 
islands,  and  as  a  large  portion  of  the  records  of  past 
changes  which  have  been  presented  were  formed  in  the 
ocean,  the  results  are  complex.  But  in  North  America- 
there  has  been  a  comparatively  steady  growth  from  one 
main  continental  centre  or  nucleus,  and  the  records  of  the 
principal  changes  that  have  occurred  are,  to  a  greater  de- 
gree, simple.  Not  only  in  the  major  features  of  the  relief 
of  the  continent,  as  already  described,  but  in  its  growth 
and  geological  history,  it  is,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  the  various  land  areas, 
the  most  typical  of  all  the  continents. 

Changes  in  the  outlines  and  area  of  a  continent  are 
brought  about  principally  by  movements  of  elevation  or 
depression  in  the  earth's  crust.  Of  less  importance  is  the 
erosion  of  the  margin  of  the  land  by  waves  and  currents 
and  the  deposition  of  material  brought  from  the  land  by 
streams,  together  with  the  spits,  bars,  and  embankments 
made  by  waves  and  currents.  By  these  and  other  and  less 
conspicuous  processes  the  shape  of  North  America  has 
undergone  numerous  changes  in  outline  and  is  still  being 
modified. 

General  maps  have  been  prepared  by  J.  D.  Dana  and 
others,  showing-  the  outlines  of  North  America  at  various 


GEOLOGY  301 

stages  in  the  course  of  its  development,  and  from  a  series 
of  such  maps  recently  compiled  by  D.  C.  Schaffner  those 
here  reproduced  (Fig.  33)  have  been  selected  to  illustrate 
the  growth  of  the  continent.  As  has  been  shown  by  vari- 
ous geologists,  the  outlines  of  the  present  continents  and 
ocean-basins  had  their  major  features  determined  at  a  very 
early  stage  in  the  history  of  the  earth,  and  at  a  time  preceding 
the  existence  of  the  oldest  known  sedimentary  rocks.  At 
the  close  of  the  Archean,  the  earliest  geological  era  now 
recognised,  and,  so  far  as  has  been  determined,  before  life 
existed  on  the  earth,  the  principal  nucleus  of  North  America 
was  a  land  mass  some  2,000,000  square  miles  in  area,  situ- 
ated mainly  in  what  is  now  the  eastern  half  of  Can- 
ada, from  which  there  was  a  southward  prolongation  rep- 
resented   by    the    Adirondack    hills    of    New    York    (Fig. 

33<  A). 

The  rocks  forming  this  earliest  known  land  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere  consist  of  crystalline  schists,  gneiss- 
es, and  granite,  which  are  considered  by  some  geologists 
at  least  as  having  resulted  from  the  metamorphism  of  sedi- 
mentary beds.  Penetrating  and  intimately  intermingled 
with  these  greatly  altered  rocks,  some  of  them  perhaps 
metamorphosed  lavas  and  allied  terranes,  are  many  rocks 
that  were  forced  upward  from  deep  in  the  earth  into  fis- 
sures in  a  molten  condition  and  have  since  cooled  and 
crystallized.  More  than  one  epoch  of  metamorphism  has 
perhaps  occurred,  and  the  entire  record  now  accessible  is 
exceedingly  complicated. 

The  physical  conditions  at  the  earth's  surface  at  the 
close  of  the  Archean  period,  as  may  reasonably  be  inferred, 
were  not  essentially  different  from  what  they  are  now. 
The  land  areas  were  eroded  by  streams,  and  the  debris 
carried  to  the  sea  and  deposited,  the  coarser  near  shore 
and  the  finer  farther  seaward.  Upward  movements  in 
the  earth's  crust  in  various  places  subsequently  laid  bare 
a  portion  of  the  sea-floor  adjacent  to  the  former  land, 
and  the  continent  was  enlarged.  The  outline  of  the  land 
a-  u  existed  previous  to  the  upheaval  which  exposed  this 
portion  of  the  ocean's  bottom  would  be  defined  by  the  land- 


302  NORTH    AMERICA 

ward  margin  of  the  material  deposited.  The  exposed  sedi- 
ments would  be  coarsest  near  the  former  coast-line  and 
become  finer  and  finer  seaward  from  it,  and  the  fossils  con- 
tained in  the  consolidated  sands  and  clays  would  also  supply 
evidence  bearing  on  the  origin  of  the  rocks.  It  is  by  such  in- 
terpretation of  the  ancient  records  in  the  light  of  what  is 
now  taking  place  that  the  geologist  is  enabled  to  map  ap- 
proximately the  outline  of  North  America  at  several  stages 
in  its  growth  in  the  manner  shown  on  the  series  of  maps  here 
presented.  Information  in  this  connection,  however,  con- 
cerning both  the  northern  and  southern  portions  of  the 
continent  is  too  meagre  at  present  to  be  largely  utilized  in 
these  outline  sketches.1 

The  next  system  thus  far  recognised,  following  the 
Archean,  is  the  Algonkian,  at  the  close  of  whose  depo- 
sition some  additions  had  been  made  to  the  Archean  or 
pre-Algonkian  land.  Succeeding  the  Algonkian  system 
come,  in  succession,  the  Cambrian,  Ordovician,  and  Silu- 
rian systems.  At  the  close  of  the  Silurian  there  was  a  de- 
cided increase  in  the  size  of  the  main  nucleus  of  the  con- 
tinent. Owing  principally  to  an  excess  of  elevation  over 
subsidence  in  the  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  beneath  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  region  now  occupied  by  the  United 
States,  portions  of  the  sediments  deposited  previous  to 
the  close  of  the  Silurian  were  upraised  and  important 
additions  made  to  the  extent  of  the  land  southward  from 
the  Archean  area  of  Canada.  This  "  Appalachian  penin- 
sula "  would  be  conspicuous  in  a  map  representing  the 
outline  of  the  continent  at  the  close  of  the  Silurian.  The 
eastern  margin  of  the  growing  continent  was  then  well  to 
the  eastward  of  its  present  position,  but  how  far  beyond  the 
present  coast  we  have  no  means  of  determining.  Although 
at  the  close  of  the  Silurian  the  continent  had  greatly  in- 
creased in  area  over  that  of  the  nucleus  at  the  close  of  the 
Archean.  it  bore  but  little  resemblance  to  its  present  form. 


1  The  relations  of  the  eras  referred  to  on  these  maps  and  the  positions 
they  occupy  on  the  geological  time-scale  are  shown  a  few  pages  later  on 
a  chart  of  the  geological  history  of  North  America. 


GEOLOGY  303 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that  with  the  exception  of 
the  eastward  extension  of  the  land  at  the  time  referred  to, 
the  growth  had  been  within  the  present  continental  out- 
line, 

A  later  stage  in  the  growth  of  the  continent  is  shown 
in  Fig.  33,  B,  when  its  eastern  margin  had  much  of 
its  present  general  outline  and  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains were  in  their  prime.  The  time  indicated  is  at  the 
close  of  the  Paleozoic  era,  and  after  the  great  coal-fields 
extending  from  Pennsylvania  southward  to  Alabama  and 
westward  to  beyond  the  Mississippi  were  formed.  The 
eastern  half  of  the  continent  was  approximately  completed 
at  the  time  just  referred  to,  and  is  older  than  the  western 
half. 

During  the  Cretaceous  period  great  changes  took 
place  in  the  geography  of  the  still  growing  continent,  as 
may  be  seen  by  the  map  illustrating  that  period.  The 
conspicuous  features  in  the  geography  are  the  submerged 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  borders,  and  the  presence  of  a  broad 
belt  of  ocean  water  in  the  continental  basin  which  reached 
from  the  then  much  expanded  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Arc- 
tic Ocean,  and  divided  the  land  into  an  eastern  and  a 
western  continental  island. 

Following  the  Cretaceous  period  came  the  Tertiary 
period,  during  which  the  continent  assumed  very  nearly 
its  present  outline.  During  this  period,  however,  as  is 
indicated  in  Fig.  33,  D,  the  Atlantic  border  of  the  United 
States  from  Xew  England  southward  and  a  wide  area  about 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  were  submerged  and  had  deep  layers 
of  sediment  deposited  on  them.  During  the  Tertiary, 
bodies  of  fresh  water  became  for  the  first  time  ;i  conspicu- 
ous feature  on  the  land,  and  large  lakes  and  broad  silt-de- 
positing rivers  existed  particularly  in  the  Pacific  mountain 
region  o'f  the  United  States,  and  at  its  close  the  continent 
was  practically  completed  as  we  now  know  it,  but  several 
important  oscillations,  particularly  at  the  north,  have 
since    occurred. 

With  the  growth  of  the  continent,  briefly  outlined 
above,  came  greater  and  greater  diversity  in  its  relief,  due 


LaDii  Areas  not  submerged 
during  the  Cretaceous  period 
Conjectured  shore  line---—. 


Areas  of  deposition  during 
the  Tertiary  period. 

Marine  Deposits .„._.- 

Lake  and  River  Deposits. _„E 
Conjectured  shore  line — 


Fig.  33. — Maps  showing  the  growth  of  the  North  American  continent. 


GEOLOGY  305 

principally  to  the  upraising  of  various  mountains  in  a  some- 
what orderly  succession  from  east  to  west. 

The  oldest  mountains  on  the  continent  are  the  Lau- 
rentian  Highlands  of  eastern  Canada.  Although  the  region 
referred  to — the  one  mentioned  above  as  being  composed 
of  Archean  crystalline  rocks — is  not  now  of  sufficient  ele- 
vation or  ruggedness  to  be  termed  mountainous,  it  shows 
in  the  nature  and  structure  of  its  rocks  that  deep  erosion 
has  taken  place.  The  inference  is  that  truly  great  moun- 
tains have  been  removed,  but  the  evidence  may  also  sus- 
tain the  interpretation  that  slow  upheaval  has  been  accom- 
panied by  erosion,  and  that  at  no  time  was  the  land  con- 
spicuously elevated. 

Xext  in  age  after  the  Laurentian  Highlands  come  the 
mountains  of  New  England  and  the  maritime  province  of 
Canada,  which  were  upraised  at  the  close  of  the  Silurian 
period.  The  next  great  step  was  the  crumpling  into  folds 
and  upheaval  of  the  rocks  in  the  Appalachian  region  at 
the  close  of  the  Paleozoic  era.  The  Park  and  Stony 
Mountains  were  upraised  at  the  close  of  the  Mesozoic  era, 
and  later  came  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascades,  followed 
by  the  Coast  Ranges.  Youngest  of  all,  and  in  part  for 
that  reason  the  boldest  and  most  lofty,  are  the  magnifi- 
cent mountains  of  southern  Alaska,  with  a  host  of  sublime 
peaks,  like  Mounts  Fairweather,  Logan,  St.  Elias,  and 
perhaps  McKinley.  The  last-named  and  highest  peak  of 
all.  however,  may  be  of  volcanic  origin. 

In  the  above  list  showing  the  progressive  westward 
movement  of  the  birth  of  mountain  systems,  account  is 
taken  only  of  the  elevations  produced  by  upheaval.  The 
mountains  due  to  volcanic  eruptions,  which  are  still  con- 
spicuous, are  all  young,  in  comparison  with  the  mountains 
situated  to  the  eastward  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The 
majestic  cones  of  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  United 
Stan--,  of  which  Mounts  Shasta.  Hood,  Adams,  Rainier, 
Baker,  etc.,  arc  the  must  glorious,  are  of  Tertiary  or 
later  age.  The  same  is  true,  so  far  as  known,  of  the  still 
more  lofty  volcanoes  in  Mexico.  The  "pine  tree"  forms 
of  stram  rising  from  the  volcanoes  <>f  the  Caribbees,  (  en- 


306  NORTH    AMERICA 

tral  America,  southern  Mexico,  and  southwestern  Alaska, 
proclaim  the  recency  of  the  birth  of  the  frequently  magnifi- 
cent craters  built  of  rocks  that  were  once  molten,  from  which 
they  emerge. 


THE    ROCKS    OF    WHICH    THE    CONTINENT    IS    COMPOSED 

The  rocks  of  which  North  America  is  built  belong  to 
three  classes,  which  are  world-wide  in  their  distribution. 
These  are:  First,  rocks  produced  by  the  cooling  and  crys- 
tallizing of  formerly  molten  magmas;  second,  those  depos- 
ited by  water;  and  third,  those  which  previously  belonged 
to  either  of  the  two  classes  just  referred  to,  but  have  been 
recrystallized  and  so  greatly  changed  that  their  preceding 
condition  is  no  longer  clearly  recognisable. 

These  three  classes  or  subkingdoms,  as  perhaps  they 
might  be  termed  from  analogy  with  systems  of  biological 
classifications,  are  in  technical  language : 

i.  Igneous  rocks,  such  as  the  lava  of  Vesuvius. 

2.  Sedimentary  rocks,  such  as  sandstone,  shale,  lime- 
stone, coal,  etc. 

3.  Metamorphic  rocks,  such  as  gneiss,  schist,  some 
granites,  etc. 

These  major  divisions  are  based  principally  on  mode  of 
origin,  but  do  not  indicate  relative  age.  While  theoretically 
at  least,  and  in  a  general  way,  the  rocks  of  these  three 
great  classes  came  into  existence  on  the  earth  in  the  order 
named,  it  is  convenient  to  consider  first  those  of  sedimentary 
origin. 

The  Sedimentary  Rocks  (Plate  IV). — Whenever  land 
exists  or  the  waves  and  currents  of  the  ocean  come  in 
contact  with  the  rocks  denudation  occurs.  That  is,  the 
rocks  are  broken  through  the  action  of  mechanical  or 
chemical  agencies,  such  as  the  friction  of  the  gravel  and 
sand  swept  along  by  streams,  the  solvent  power  of  water, 
etc.,  and  the  fragments  thus  produced  are  removed  prin- 
cipally through  the  action  of  flowing  water  and  deposited. 
Resulting  from  this  general  process  of  rock  decay  and  dis- 
integration, combined  with  transportation  and  deposition, 


50, 


- 


— 


REFERENC1     ro  COL( 
H  Igneous  K'»cks 

H  SolillM-nl  iry   R 

Metam 


i logy  nol  nu) 


12&  120 


P..  3  Bo 


n 


GEOLOGY  307 

there  result  mechanically  formed  sedimentary  beds,  such 
as  shale,  sandstone,  conglomerate,  etc.;  chemically  formed 
sedimentary  beds,  such  as  the  deposits  of  springs,  the 
saline  precipitates  from  inclosed  lakes,  etc. ;  and  organ- 
ically formed  sedimentary  beds,  as,  for  example,  peat,  coal, 
and  limestone. 

Since  the  first  appearance  of  land  in  the  region  now 
occupied  by  North  America,  sedimentary  rocks  have  been 
in  process  of  formation,  and  in  this  way  the  growth  of  the 
continent,  with  the  aid  of  movements  in  the  earth's  crust, 
has  been  produced. 

The  superficial  extent  of  the  sedimentary  beds  in 
North  America  is  very  great,  as  is  indicated  on  the  map 
referred  to  above.  By  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  surface 
of  the  continent  is  underlain  by  them.  Their  thickness 
varies  from  place  to  place,  but  probably  reaches  a  maxi- 
mum in  the  Appalachian  region,  where  a  depth  of  some 
40,000  feet  has  been  measured.  Throughout  the  continen- 
tal basin  their  depth  is  in  general  from  3.000  to  4.000 
feet.  In  the  Pacific  mountains  their  thickness  embraces  tens 
of  thousands  of  feet,  and  the  same  is  true  in  Mexico.  Cuba, 
and  Jamaica.  These  sedimentary  rocks  contain  fossils 
which,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  show  that  they 
were  deposited  in  the  ocean ;  thus  sustaining  in  an  impor- 
tant manner  the  conclusion  already  presented  in  reference  to 
the  growth  of  the  continent. 

Great  as  is  the  area  of  the  sedimentary  beds  at  the 
present  time,  it  does  not  show  the  entire  extent  to  which 
what  is  now  land  has  at  some  time  been  submerged  be- 
neath the  sea.  In  certain  broad  regions,  sedimentary  beds 
which  formerly  existed  have  been  removed  by  erosion; 
in  other  extensive  areas  they  are  covered  by  volcanic 
rocks,  and  in  still  other  portions  of  the  continent,  cm- 
bracing  thousands  of  square  miles,  they  have  been  meta- 
morphosed and  their  original   characteristics  obliterated. 

The  system  of  classification  of  the  sedimentary  heds 
that  has  been  adopted,  as  is  well  known,  is  based  on  the 
relative  age  of  the  formations,  determined  primarily  by  the 
occurrence    of   one    formation    above    another,    in    regions 


3oS  NORTH    AMERICA 

where  but  moderate  disturbances  in  position  have  oc- 
curred. Many  of  the  stratified  rocks  contain  fossils — that 
is,  records  of  the  life  of  the  time  they  were  deposited,  and 
after  the  order  of  succession  of  a  large  number  of  forma- 
tions has  been  ascertained,  the  life  records  they  contain 
may  be  used  as  a  means  of  determining  the  age  of  a  newly 
discovered  terrane. 

By  grouping  the  information  obtained  from  the  study 
of  the  vertical  sequence  of  the  formations  in  many  regions, 
and  also  the  records  of  life  contained  in  them,  a  composite 
geological  column  has  been  constructed  which  shows  the 
relative  age  of  all  known  formations.  The  larger  divisions 
of  such  a  scheme  of  classification  are  world-wide  in  their 
application,  but  the  smaller  divisions  are  usually  of  re- 
stricted geographical  extent. 

The  scheme  of  classification  of  general  application  in 
North  America  is  shown  in  the  chart  on  page  308.  The 
arrangement  is  in  order  of  age,  the  oldest  formation  being 
at  the  bottom.  There  is  some  lack  of  uniformity  among 
American  geologists  as  to  certain  of  the  terms  used,  more 
especially  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  column,  and  in  part 
the  scheme  is  provisional,  but  in  general  it  may  be  taken 
as  expressing  the  progress  made  in  the  study  of  the  geol- 
ogy of  North  America  up  to  the  present  time. 

The  names  of  the  larger  divisions  in  this  scheme  of 
classification,  or  those  designating  the  groups  and  systems 
and  the  eras  and  periods,  have  for  the  most  part  been 
adopted  from  European  geologists.  Two  important  ones, 
however — namely,  Archean  and  Algonkian — are  of  Ameri- 
can birth. 

While  this  scheme  of  classification  is  based  on  the 
succession  of  sedimentary  beds,  igneous  and  metamorphic 
rocks  have  a  place  in  it,  providing  their  age  can  be  deter- 
mined. 

The  Archean  period  includes  the  time  previous  to  the 
deposition  of  the  oldest  known  sedimentary  beds,  and  its 
lower  limit  is  as  yet  undefined.  The  Archean  system,  or 
the  rocks  formed  during  the  Archean  period,  are  without 
known  fossils,  and  consist  largely  of  gneisses  and  foliated 


GEOLOGY 


>09 


Outline  Chart  of  the  Geological  History  of  North  America 


schists,  which  are  metamorphosed  sedimentary  or  igneous 
terranes,  together  with  various  eruptives.  The  typical 
area  where  these  rocks  are  exposed  at  the  surface  is  in  the 
Laurentian  Highlands  of  eastern  Canada,  the  main  Archean 
nucleus  of  the  continent,  but  rocks  of  the  same  age  and 
same  general  character  occur  in  several  of  the  mountain 
systems  of  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  cordilleras,  and 
underlie  the  sedimentary  beds  throughoul  a  large  pari  of 
the  Cuit mental  basin.  The  Archean  system  was  named 
by    f.   I).   Nana,  and  divided  into  two  portions,  namely,  the 

21 


310  NORTH    AMERICA 

Laurentian  below  and  the  Huronian  above.  More  recent 
studies,  especially  by  C.  R.  Van  Hise.  have  shown  the  neces- 
sity of  removing  from  the  system  many  of  the  terranes  for- 
merly referred  to  it,  and  of  placing  them  in  the  Algonkian. 
The  Archean  as  it  remains  after  this  adjustment  is  termed 
by  Van  Hise  the  Basement  Complex.  This  term,  although 
thus  far  not  generally  adopted,  has  much  to  commend  it, 
since  the  terranes  designated  by  it  are  highly  complex, 
and  may  perhaps  be  ultimately  subdivided  into  two  or 
more  systems,  and  besides  occupy  a  basal  position  lower 
than  any  known  sedimentary  formation  that  has  escaped 
metamorphism. 

The  Algonkian  series  embraces  a  great  thickness  of 
sedimentary  beds,  in  part  metamorphosed,  which  in  cer- 
tain localities  rest  unconformably  on  the  eroded  surface 
of  the  Basement  Complex  and  in  places  are  overlain  un- 
conformably by  Cambrian  rocks.  Both  the  upper  and 
lower  contacts,  however,  in  certain  localities,  have  been 
rendered  obscure  by  metamorphism.  The  system  derives 
its  name  from  a  tribe  of  Indians  that  inhabited  the  region 
about  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  where  it  is  well  de- 
veloped. The  Algonkian  terranes  are  exposed  in  the 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado,  in  the  Wasatch  and  Uintah 
Mountains,  the  Black  Hills  of  Dakota,  about  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  and  in  many  parts  of  eastern  Can- 
ada, as  well  as  in  several  other  localities.  The  oldest 
known  fossils  occur  in  these  rocks,  and  consist  of  a 
small  number  of  brachiopods,  molluscs,  crustaceans,  etc. 
These  scanty  records  are  suggestive,  and  at  least  stimu- 
late the  hope  that  an  extensive  pre-Cambrian  fauna  will 
ultimately  be  discovered.  The  few  forms  found  seem  to 
be  not  far  different  from  the  similar  life  records  of  the 
Cambrian. 

The  Cambrian  system,  although  first  studied  in  Eu- 
rope, has  an  important  development  in  North  America, 
and  occurs  at  the  surface  at  a  large  number  of  localities 
ranging  from  Newfoundland  to  California.  The  known 
distribution  of  the  system  and  the  nature  of  the  rocks  com- 
posing it  indicate  that  it  occurs  widely  in  the  Continental 


GEOLOGY  311 

basin  beneath  subsequent  deposits.  The  most  interesting 
results  derived  from  the  study  of  the  Cambrian,  carried  on 
especially  by  C.  D.  Walcott,  pertain  to  its  life  records. 
With  the  exception  of  a  few  obscure  algae,  all  the  fossils 
thus  far  discovered  are  marine  invertebrates.  As  regards 
rank  in  the  zoological  scale,  certain  molluscan  remains 
are  the  highest,  but  outclassing  them  in  size,  abundance, 
and  degree  of  specialization  are  the  trilobitcs,  the  nearest 
living  representatives  of  which  are  certain  crustaceans. 
Of  the  trilobites  about  100  species  have  been  discovered 
in  the  Cambrian  rocks  of  North  America,  the  largest  indi- 
vidual being  about  20  inches  in  length. 

The  picture  of  the  continent  which  the  facts  just  re- 
ferred to  enables  one  to  sketch  in  fancy  includes  land 
areas  destitute  of  animal  life,  and  probably  without  vege- 
tation, except  perhaps  the  lichens,  the  lowest  of  the  cryp- 
togams. The  sea,  especially  in  its  shallower  portions  near 
land  and  over  its  surface,  contains  algae,  mostly,  we  pre- 
sume, of  small  size,  in  fact  microscopic,  and  soft  tissued. 
The  animal  life  subsisting  primarily  on  the  algae  are  all 
invertebrates,  and  nearly  all  of  them,  excepting  the  crustace- 
ans, simple  in  organization.  None  of  the  animals  the 
remains  of  which  have  thus  far  been  discovered  had  strong 
shells  or  other  well-developed  protective  or  supporting 
tissues,  thus  indicating  that  they  were  not  subject  to  the 
attacks  of  formidable  enemies. 

As  compared  with  later  faunas,  the  animals  of  the  Cam- 
brian were  primitive,  but  their  diversity — every  subking- 
dom  of  invertebrates  being  represented — is  positive  evi- 
dence that  they  were  not  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  waters. 
Considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  development,  this 
fauna  stands  at  least  half-way,  and  some  students  of  the 
ancient  history  of  the  earth  place  it  as  far  as  nine- 
tenths  of  the  way.  up  the  life  column — that  is,  the  time 
from  the  first  appearance  of  life  on  the  earth  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Cambrian  was  at  least  as  long  and  possibly 
nine  times  as  long  as  the  time  that  has  since  elapsed.  This 
is  a  sufficient  promise  that  many  records  of  life,  and  it 
seems  safe  to  predict  as  varied  an  assemblage  of  organ- 


3i2  NORTH    AMERICA 

isms  as  the  at  present  known  Cambrian  fauna,  will  ulti- 
mately be  discovered  in  the  Algonkian  or  lower  rocks. 

The  Paleozoic  era  witnessed  the  first  appearance  of 
vertebrate  life.  The  earliest  known  forms  were  fish-like 
in  character  and  were  succeeded  in  sequence  by  batra- 
chians  and  reptiles.  In  this  connection  the  most  important 
contribution  to  the  world's  knowledge,  from  the  study 
of  the  American  records,  include  the  discovery  of  a  large 
number  of  fishes,  or  fish-like  forms,  some  of  them  of  gigan- 
tic size,  in  the  Devonian  and  Carboniferous  rocks  of  the 
Ohio  region,  by  J.  S.  Newberry;  numerous  batrachians 
in  the  Coal  Measures  of  Ohio,  by  E.  D.  Cope ;  of  batrachians 
and  probably  reptiles  in  rocks  of  similar  age  in  Nova  Scotia, 
by  J.  W.  Dawson  and  O.  C.  Marsh. 

During  the  Paleozoic  era  land  plants  appeared,  and 
before  its  close  the  continent  was  densely  clothed  with  for- 
ests consisting  of  flowerless  plants  such  as  ferns  and  club- 
mosses,  together  with  a  less  abundance  of  trees  related  to 
the  existing  conifers. 

Great  additions  to  the  world's  knowledge  of  the  varied 
and  beautiful  floras  of  the  swamps  in  which  the  coal-beds 
of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Nova  Scotia,  etc.,  were  accumu- 
lated have  been  made  by  H.  D.  Rogers,  J.  S.  Newberry, 
Leo  Lesquereux,  J.  W.  Dawson,  I.  C.  White,  David 
White,  and  others. 

The  Mesozoic  era  is  characterized  among  other  events 
by  the  first  appearance  and  rapid  development  of  flowering 
plants,  the  cycads  being  especially  numerous,  and  of  our 
ordinary  broad-leaved  trees,  such  as  the  oak,  willow,  sas- 
safras, etc.,  and  by  the  coming  in  of  palms;  and  in  the 
animal  kingdom  by  the  culmination  of  reptilian  life  and 
the  advent  of  birds  and  mammals. 

The  American  Mesozoic  rocks  have  yielded  a  rich 
store  of  fossil  plants,  as  is  well  known  from  the  pains- 
taking studies  of  J.  S.  Newberry,  Leo  Lesquereux,  W. 
M.  Fontaine,  L.  F.  Ward,  F.  H.  Knowlton,  and  others. 
These  same  students  of  the  progress  of  plant  life  on  the 
continent  have  also  made  extensive  and  critical  studies 
of  the  Cenozoic  floras. 


GEOLOGY 


3*3 


The  relics  of  reptilian  life  brought  to  light  from  the 
Mesozoic  rocks  of  New  Jersey,  Kansas,  Wyoming,  etc., 
by  Joseph  Leidy,  O.  C.  Marsh,  E.  D.  Cope,  and  others, 
have  astonished  the  world,  even  though  marvellous  re- 
sults in  a  similar  direction  had  previously  been  made 
known  in  Europe.  The  reptilian  age  was  marked  in 
America  by  the  presence  of  such  huge  reptiles,  and  by 
the  strange  development  and  adaptations  in  various  direc- 
tions that  they  surpass  the  wildest  dreams  of  fable.  Liz- 
ard-like reptiles  walked  the  earth  that  were  40  to  60  feet 
in  length  and  stood  10  to  14  feet  high  where  the  massive 
hind  limbs  joined  the  body.  Their  thigh-bones  in  cer- 
tain instances  measured  over  6  feet  in  length.  Some  of 
these  monsters,  it  is  estimated,  weighed  at  least  10  tons. 
These,  the  hugest  of  all  land  animals,  were  vegetable  feed- 
ers. Others,  of  less  size,  although  still  gigantic  and  more 
active,  were  carnivorous.  Some  of  the  old  lizard-like 
forms  which  left  their  footprints  in  great  abundance  in 
the  sands  now  hardened  into  sandstone  in  the  Connecti- 
cut Valley  and  Xew  Jersey  walked  on  their  hind  feet, 
after  the  manner  of  birds,  and  left  three-toed  footmarks, 
some  of  them  20  inches  in  length,  which  are  strikingly 
bird-like  in  appearance.  Other  great  reptiles,  whale-like  in 
appearance,  inhabited  the  ocean.  Yet  more  marvellous  forms 
were  provided  with  wings,  resembling  those  of  bats,  and  in 
the  case  of  the  great  Pteranodons  found  in  the  rocks  of  Kan- 
sas had  a  "  stretch  of  wing  "  of  fully  20  feet.  But  the 
strange  menagerie  that  has  been  resurrected  contains 
such  a  marvellous  array  of  grotesque  shapes  that  not  even 
a  catalogue  of  the  genera  can  be  presented  here. 

While  the  Mesozoic  era  was  emphatically  the  age  of 
reptiles,  the  coining  of  a  more  highly  developed  fauna  was 
foreshadowed.  Bird  life  was  represented,  and  the  skel- 
etons of  reptilian  birds,  or  birds  with  teeth  like  those  of 
reptiles,  have  been  discovered  in  the  Mesozoic  rocks  of 
Kansas.  Important  addition^  to  our  knowledge  of  these 
strange  creatures,  which  furnish  much  instructive  data  in 
reference  to  tin-  development  of  the  higher  from  tin-  lower 
forms  of  life,  have  been  made  by  0.  C.   Marsh.     The  hum 


3H  NORTH    AMERICA 

ble  beginning  of  mammalian  life  is  shown  by  insectivo- 
rous marsupials,  the  jaws  of  which  were  discovered  in  the 
Newark  system  (Lower  Mesozoic)  of  North  Carolina. 

The  Cenozoic  era  is  the  age  of  mammals,  so  called 
because  during  that  time  brute  mammals  succeeded  rep- 
tiles as  the  rulers  of  the  earth.  From  the  rocks  deposited 
in  North  America  during  this  era,  principally  the  sedi- 
ments of  fresh-water  lakes  and  the  gravel-beds  laid  down 
by  streams  in  the  Pacific  mountain  region,  a  great  num- 
ber of  skeletons  of  truly  remarkable  mammals,  differing 
widely  from  anything  now  living,  have  been  discovered 
by  Joseph  Leidy,  O.  C.  Marsh,  E.  D.  Cope,  H.  F.  Osborn, 
and  others.  The  profound  interest  attached  to  this  fauna, 
and  the  bearings  it  has  on  the  study  of  the  geographi- 
cal distribution  of  animals,  climatic  changes,  etc.,  is  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  it  includes  forms  related  to  the  rhi- 
noceros, elephant,  camel,  etc..  which  are  not  represented 
among  the  animals  now  living  on  the  continent,  al- 
though having  relatives  in  other  and  principally  tropical 
countries. 

During  the  Psychozoic  era  mind  gained  ascendency  over 
brute  force,  and  man  became  the  leader.  The  mammals 
■continued  to  dominate  the  earth  throughout  the  Pleistocene 
period  and  were  then  probably  more  numerous  and  of  even 
larger  size  than  during  the  preceding  Tertiary  period.  Dur- 
ing the  Pleistocene  great  climatic  changes  occurred,  and 
large  glaciers  existed  in  several  regions  which  now  enjoy  a 
temperate  climate  and  are  densely  populated. 

The  presence  of  man  in  North  America  during  the 
Pleistocene  has  not  been  proved,  but  important  contribu- 
tions to  knowledge  concerning  the  brute  mammals,  and  in 
reference  also  to  the  climatic  and  physiographic  changes, 
have  been  made. 

In  stream-deposited  gravels,  caverns,  peat  swamps, 
etc.,  over  the  surface  of  practically  the  entire  continent, 
the  bones  of  many  species  of  large  mammals  have  been 
obtained.  These  include  the  mastodon  and  elephant, 
megatherium,  megalonyx,  mylodon,  a  large  horse,  a  great 
bison,  an  elk  much  exceeding  the  living  species  in  size, 


Compiled  by  Ii.H.Dawwn. 
KANSAS  (  Earliest  known  stage  of  ice  ad 
IOW  AM  'Second  stage  of  ice  advance.)  - - 
ILLIXOIAN'  (Third  stage  of  ice  ad' 
\\  [SCONSIN  (  Fourth  stage  of  ice  advance.).  —  - 
Land  not  occupied  bj  ice  during  the  Plei; 
Note:  No.l.in  PENN'.and  N.J.  is  of  doubtful  age. 


PLATE    V.— PLEISTOCENE    GLACIAL    DEPOSITS. 


Note  :  This  map  presents  what  may  be  termed  a  composite  picture  of 
the  extent  of  glacial  ice  during  Pleistocene  and  Recent  time  ;  Greenland, 
much  of  the  Arctic  archipelago,  and  many  areas  in  the  Pacific  mountains  are 
still  occupied  by  ice.  The  broken  blue  lines  on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts 
show  approximately  the  seaward  extension  of  the  Pleistocene  ice-sheets.  The 
detached  areas  of  glaciation  in  the  western  portion  of  the  United  States  are 
here  assigned  to  the  Wisconsin  stage,  but  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  Sierra 
Nevada  there  are  records  of  two  ice  advances.  The  drift  in  western  Canada 
here  colored  as  Wisconsin  is  perhaps  in  part  of  later  date. 


GEOLOGY  3*5 

a  giant  beaver,  and  many  others  remarkable  for  their  large 
dimensions  as  compared  with  their  living  representatives. 
Several  of  these  large  animals  survived  the  vicissitudes  of 
climate  characteristic  of  the  Glacial  epoch,  but  have  since 
become  extinct. 

The  chief  contributions  to  Pleistocene  history,  how- 
ever, made  by  American  geologists,  are  in  connection  with 
the  records  of  climatic  changes.  During  the  earlier  por- 
tion of  the  period,  and  beginning  perhaps  in  late  Tertiary 
time,  the  continent  in  large  part  at  least  was  more  elevated 
than  now  and  the  energetic  streams  of  the  mountainous 
portions  eroded  deep  canons.  To  this  Sierran  epoch,  as 
it  is  termed,  is  referred  the  excavation  of  the  larger  valleys 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  world-renowned  canons  of  the 
Colorado  and  Snake  Rivers,  and  probably  the  deep  Valley 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Hudson. 

A  climatic  change  perhaps  initiated  by  the  greater  ele- 
vation of  the  land,  but  not  as  yet  wholly  explained,  caused 
glaciers  to  form  about  the  higher  portions  of  a  number  of 
the  ranges  in  the  Pacific  mountains,  and  continental  glaciers 
of  the  type  of  the  ice-sheet  now  covering  Greenland  to 
expand  from  at  least  three  centres,  termed  the  Labradorean, 
Keewatin,  and  Cordilleran,  in  what  is  now  Canada.  Dur- 
ing this  time  of  great  ice  accumulation  and  of  glacial  ad- 
vance and  retreat,  or  the  Glacial  epoch,  as  it  is  termed,  fully 
one-half  of  North  America  was  buried  beneath  ice-sheets 
of  the  continental  type.  A  composite  map  showing  the 
portions  of  the  continent  which  were  covered  with  ice 
at  one  time  or  another  during  the  Glacial  epoch  is  repro- 
duced in  Plate  V. 

During  the  maximum  advance  of  the  ice  from  the 
Labradorean  centre  into  the  Continental  basin  it  nearly 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River  (near  Cincinnati).  An 
earlier  advance  from  the  Keewatin  centre  extended  to  the 
Missouri  River  in  Missouri.  There  is  evidence  of  a  suc- 
cession of  advances  and  retreats  of  the  ice  forming  a  very 
complex  history.  With  its  final  retreat  the  Great  Lakes  came 
into  existence  and  the  continenl  reached  the  stage  in  its  de- 
velopment when  man  became  prominent. 


316  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  study  of  glacial  geology  in  North  America  was 
initiated,  or  at  least  given  a  fresh  start  and  in  the  proper 
direction,  by  Louis  Agassiz,  and  within  recent  years  ener- 
getically carried  forward  by  a  large  number  of  earnest 
workers.  The  stage  of  advance  reached  in  this  branch  of 
geology  which  serves  so  admirably  to  link  the  present 
with  the  past  is  well  presented  in  the  numerous  publica- 
tions of  T.  C.  Chamberlin  and  his  associates. 

The  instructive  history  of  the  growth  of  North  Amer- 
ica and  the  successive  appearance  of  higher  and  higher 
forms  of  life,  the  records  of  which  have  been  discovered 
in  the  sedimentary  rocks,  has  been  made  known  by  the 
combined  studies  of  a  large  number  of  investigators,  but 
the  great  task  has  been  carried  on  mainly  under  the 
auspices  of  various  national  and  State  surveys.  Chief 
among  these  is  the  present  United  States  Geological  Sur- 
vev,  which  has  published  what  may  be  justly  termed  a 
library  of  valuable  literature  and  of  topographic  and  geo- 
logic maps. 

The  Igneous  Rocks  (Plate  IV). — Under  the  at  present 
popular  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  earth,  namely, 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  and  also  the  modification  of  it 
termed  the  meteoric  hypothesis,  the  planet  itself  is  con- 
sidered to  have  been  at  one  time  in  a  molten  condition. 
The  starting-point  of  the  study  of  the  rocks  composing 
the  earth  should  be.  therefore,  the  primitive  crust  cooled 
from  fusion.  In  addition  to  this  there  have  been  throughout 
history  geologic  migrations  of  molten  matter  from  deep 
within  the  earth  towards  the  surface,  and  a  part  of  the  mate- 
rial thus  forced  outward,  principally  through  fissures,  has 
cooled  in  the  rocks  it  penetrated,  forming  intrusions  of 
various  kinds,  and  a  part  has  reached  the  surface  and  been 
extruded,  as  during  volcanic  eruptions. 

Probably  every  known  phase  of  vulcanism  is  illustrated 
by  the  igneous  rocks  of  North  America,  and  in  certain 
branches  of  the  subject,  as  the  nature  of  intrusions  and  the 
changes  which  occur  in  the  cooling  of  igneous  magmas, 
marked  advances  in  the  world's  knowledge  have  been  made 
by  American  geologists. 


GEOLOGY  3l7 

Examples  of  volcanic  phenomena  on  a  grand  scale  are 
furnished  by  the  still  active  volcanoes  of  the  Caribbees, 
Central  America,  Mexico,  and  Alaska.  Between  southern 
Alaska  and  south-central  Mexico  there  are  no  active  cra- 
ters, but  a  large  number  of  volcanic  mountains  in  various 
stages  of  erosion  which  form  an  instructive  series  illus- 
trating the  internal  structure  of  the  mode  of  accumula- 
tion of  ejected  fragment  material  and  of  lava-flows.  In 
this  series  of  mountains  built  by  igneous  agencies  belongs 
the  great  volcanic  piles  of  the  Cascade  region,  of  which 
Mounts  Baker,  Rainier,  Adams,  Hood,  Jefferson,  Mazama, 
Shasta,  etc.,  are  among  the  leading  examples.  Many  other 
illustrations  in  the  same  connection,  some  of  them  in  an 
advanced  stage  of  erosion  and  now  revealing  only  the 
dikes  and  necks  of  resistant  rock  that  cooled  and  hardened 
well  below  the  surface,  occur  widely  throughout  the  south- 
west portion  of  the  United  States.  The  still  recognisable 
volcanic  mountains  of  the  continent,  with  the  exception  of 
those  of  the  Caribbees,  are  confined  to  its  western  half, 
and  with  the  exception  of  certain  almost  perfect  craters 
in  eastern  Xew  Mexico  are  all  within  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains. A  great  belt  of  volcanoes,  including  a  large  number 
of  both  active  and  extinct  examples,  extends  from  Pana- 
ma to  the  Aleutian  Islands,  a  distance  of  some  7,000  miles, 
and  is  a  part  of  the  so-called  "  circle  of  fire  "  surrounding 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  belt  is  about  1,000  miles  broad 
in  its  central  part,  where  only  extinct  volcanoes  exist,  and 
narrows  towards  both  its  northern  and  southern  extremi- 
ties, which  are  defined  by  still  steaming  craters.  The 
narrow  northern  portion,  inclusive  of  the  active  volcanoes 
of  the  Alaskan  Peninsula  and  the  Aleutian  Islands,  is 
prolonged  westward,  and  forms  a  curve  concave  to  the 
southward,  while  the  equally  narrow  southern  portion 
marked  by  the  energetic  craters  of  Central  America  forms 
a  curve  concave  to  the  northward.  The  entire  belt  has 
something  the  shape  of  a  sigmoid  curve,  with  a  wide  central 
portion. 

In   the   preceding  sketch   of  the   growth   of   the   conti- 
nent   it    was    shown    that    the    Pacific    mountain    region    is 


318  NORTH    AMERICA 

younger  than  the  Atlantic  mountain  region.  In  this  same 
connection  certain  interesting  general  conclusions  have 
been  reached  in  reference  to  igneous  activity.  In  each  of 
the  great  Cordilleras  referred  to  there  have  been  exten- 
sive breaks  in  the  earth's  crust  through  which  molten 
rocks  have  been  forced  upward.  Volcanoes  and  various 
intrusions  have  been  formed  in  each  region,  but  in  the 
eastern  half  of  the  continent  the  time  since  the  last  erup- 
tions has  been  so  great  that  all  evidence  in  the  relief  of 
the  land  of  the  former  presence  of  volcanic  mountains  has 
been  obliterated.  Erosion  has  cut  deeply  into  the  rocks 
on  which  the  ancient  volcanoes  stood,  and  revealed  in 
some  instances  the  dikes  occupying  the  fissures  which 
supplied  them.  A  large  number  of  dikes  of  igneous  rock 
occur  in  the  Atlantic  coast  region  from  Prince  Edward 
Island  southward  to  Alabama  and  Georgia,  and  vast  lava- 
flows  of  ancient  date  are  still  preserved  about  the  south 
shore  of  Lake  Superior.  Volcanic  eruptions  in  the  older 
half  of  the  continent  have  long  since  ceased  and  the  breaks 
which  gave  them  existence  have  been  healed.  The  later 
movements  in  the  western  half  of  the  continent  have 
caused  fresh  fractures  to  form,  through  which  molten  mat- 
ter has  been  forced  to  the  surface.  Many  facts  have  been 
observed  in  each  region  which  show  an  intimate  connection 
between  movements  in  the  earth's  crust  which  have  produced 
fractures  and  the  distribution  of  volcanoes. 

The  lavas  poured  out  by  the  more  recent  volcanoes 
of  North  America  are  mainly  dark  basic  rocks,  among 
which  basalt  predominates.  An  exception  occurs  in  the 
case  of  the  Mono  craters  near  Mono  Lake,  California, 
which  in  recent  time  extruded  a  thick,  viscous,  highly  sili- 
ceous, rhyolitic  lava,  much  of  which  cooled  quickly  and 
formed  volcanic  glass  or  obsidian. 

In  addition  to  streams  and  sheets  of  lava,  many  vol- 
canoes, and  especially  those  in  a  state  of  explosive  erup- 
tion, blew  into  the  air  quantities  of  fragmental  material, 
such  as  scoria,  bombs,  volcanic  gravel  (lapilli),  dust,  etc., 
which  was  scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  land.  More  or 
less  extensive  sheets  of  this  material,  in  many  instances 


GEOLOGY  3*9 

interstratifiecl  with  sedimentary  beds,  and  especially  with 
the  strata  laid  down  in  Tertiary  lakes,  or  separating  lava- 
flows,  occur  widely  throughout  the  Pacific  mountains. 
Dust  showers  of  the  nature  just  referred  to  have  occurred 
at  a  recent  date,  and  the  line  white  material  that  fell  is 
now  found  at  the  surface  in  a  large  number  of  localities, 
ranging  from  Central  America  to  the  Yukon  Valley  and 
from  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  Oregon  and  Washington. 

The  most  remarkable  instance  of  the  addition  of  vol- 
canic rocks  to  the  surface  of  North  America  is  in  the  case 
of  the  Columbia  River  lava,  which  covers  some  200,000  or 
more  square  miles  of  country  in  Washington,  Oregon,  and 
neighbouring  States.  In  that  region  outwellings  of  highly 
liquid  rock  came  from  fissures  and  spread  widely  over 
the  surface  as  veritable  inundations,  which  on  cooling  be- 
came black,  basaltic  rock,  but  without  forming  mountains 
or  craters.  Where  the  Snake  River  has  excavated  its 
magnificent  canon  in  these  still  horizontal  layers  of  basalt, 
a  thickness  of  4.000  feet  is  revealed,  although  the  stream 
has  not  as  yet  cut  through  the  formation,  and  in  Stein  Moun- 
tain, Oregon,  a  similar  series  of  lava  sheets  over  5,000  feet 
thick  has  been  measured.  The  Columbia  River  lava  was 
spread  over  the  surface  of  a  deeply  eroded  land  in  a  series 
of  vast  overflows  of  molten  material.  The  liquid  rock  cov- 
ered the  broad  plains  and  extended  into  the  valleys  in  the 
adjacent  mountains,  giving  them  level  floors  of  basalt. 
Mountain  spurs  became  capes  and  headlands  and  outstand- 
ing buttes  were  transformed  into  islands  in  the  molten  sea. 
The  lava  since  cooled  and  crystallised  has  in  places  been 
folded  and  tilted  ;  streams  like  the  Columbia,  Snake,  Spokane 
Rivers,  etc.,  have  carved  great  canons  in  it.  and  the  surface, 
especially  where  it  is  still  nearly  horizontal,  has  decayed  and 
yielded  a  wonderfully  rich  soil.  It  is  the  fine,  rich  residual 
material  of  these  lava  plains,  redistributed  in  part  by  the 
wind,  which  furnishes  the  basis  for  the  immense  wheat  in- 
dustry of  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  United  States. 

The  extrusion  of  molten  rock  from  deep  within  the 
earth  so  a-  to  form  volcanoes  or  fissure  eruptions  at  the 
surface    1-   only   a    part    of   a    widely    extended    and    highly 


320  NORTH    AMERICA 

varied  process.  As  geologists  have  discovered,  particu- 
larly in  deeply  eroded  regions,  by  no  means  all  of  the  fis- 
sures which  permit  of  the  forcing  upward  of  molten  mate- 
rial in  them  reach  the  surface.  Many  of  them  died  out 
before  coming  to  the  light  and  favoured  the  production 
of  various  forms  of  intrusion. 

A  fissure  originating  deep  in  the  earth's  crust  and 
extending  upward,  perhaps  with  many  branches  and  irreg- 
ularities, if  injected  with  molten  rock  from  below  gives 
origin  to  dikes.  That  is,  a  dike  is  a  more  or  less  vertical 
sheet  of  igneous  rock  which  has  cooled  and  crystallized  in 
a  fissure.  Such  sheets  of  intruded  material  cutting  across 
the  bedding  of  stratified  rocks,  or  traversing  older  igneous 
or  metamorphic  terranes,  are  of  common  occurrence  and 
are  frequently  abundant  in  deeply  eroded  regions.  They 
occur  particularly  in  mountains  of  upheaval,  thus  demon- 
strating the  fact  that  to  a  large  extent  the  fissure  which 
became  injected  with  molten  magmas  and  perhaps  gave 
origin  to  volcanoes,  are  due  to  movements  in  the  rocks 
composing  the  earth's  crust.  The  force  which  causes 
molten  rock  to  rise  in  such  fissures  also  tends  to  prolong 
and  enlarge  them.  The  heat  of  an  intruded  magma  affects 
the  rocks  it  traverses  and  produces  what  is  termed  contact 
metamorphism.  Examples  of  dikes  in  the  Newark  sys- 
tem have  already  been  referred  to,  and  others  are  com- 
mon throughout  the  Pacific  mountains.  Where  the  Co- 
lumbia River  lava  in  central  Washington  has  been  re- 
moved by  erosion,  hundreds,  and  in  fact  thousands,  of 
dikes  are  exposed  in  the  terranes  on  which  it  formerly 
rested. 

When  a  dike  ends  above  in  horizontally  bedded  rocks 
it  sometimes  happens  that  the  injected  magma,  especially 
if  highly  fluid,  is  forced  in  between  the  strata  and  spreads 
widely  between  the  layers,  forming  an  intruded  sheet, 
which  lifts  a  broad  cover  to  a  height  equal  to  its  own 
thickness.  An  example  of  an  intrusion  of  this  nature  is 
furnished  by  the  palisade  trap-sheet  in  New  Jersey  and 
New  York,  which  has  a  maximum  thickness  of  about  1,000 
feet,  and  is  fully  ioo  miles  in  length  from  north  to  south. 


GEOLOGY  321 

The  portion  which  remains  is  but  a  remnant  and  is  sel- 
dom over  2  or  3  miles  wide.  This  sheet  in  common  with 
its  associated  sandstones  and  shales  has  been  tilted  so  as  to 
dip  westward  at  an  angle  of  about  15  degrees,  and  its  eastern 
border  eroded  so  as  to  form  the  picturesque  Palisades  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson  opposite  New  York  city. 
Many  other  similar  intruded  sheets  are  known  in  Nova 
Scotia,  the  Connecticut  Valley,  among  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains, etc. 

A  marked  variation  in  the  process  just  outlined  occurs 
when,  as  the  controlling  condition,  the  intruded  magma 
is  highly  viscous  instead  of  highly  fluid,  and  the  friction 
of  contact  and  of  flow  is  greatly  increased.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  intruded  magma  expands  less  widely 
than  is  the  case  when  an  intruded  sheet  is  formed,  and  a 
thick  intrusion  results,  which  lifts  a  small  cover  perhaps 
to  a  great  height.  Intrusions  of  this  nature  are  sometimes 
expanded  in  their  upper  portions  into  a  more  or  less  mush- 
room shape,  and  from  their  fancied  resemblance  to  cisterns 
of  once  molten  rock  within  older  terranes  have  been 
termed  laccoliths.  The  typical  examples  are  furnished  by 
the  Henry  Mountains  in  southern  Utah,  described  by  G. 
K.  Gilbert.  Other  similar  intrusions  in  Colorado  have 
been  studied  by  Whitman  Cross,  and  yet  other  examples 
have  been  discovered  in  various  parts  of  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains. In  the  case  of  certain  of  the  laccoliths  in  the  Henry 
Mountains,  now  laid  bare  by  erosion,  the  cistern-like  mass 
of  intruded  material  is  12,000  feet  or  more  in  diameter, 
some  5.000  feet  thick  in  the  central  part,  and  lifted  a  cover 
of  stratified  rocks  fully  7,000  feet  thick. 

Where  a  dike  ends  above  in  older  rocks,  and  particu- 
larly in  horizontally  stratified  sedimentary  beds,  in  a  pipe- 
like form,  similar  to  the  conduit  of  a  volcano,  bnt  without 
reaching  the  surface,  the  unexpanded  or  but  slightly  en- 
larged summit  portion  lifts  a  comparatively  small  cover 
into  a  dome,  and  what  has  been  termed  a  plutonic  plug 
results. 

All  the  various  phases  of  intrusions  thus  far  referred 
to,  it  will  he  readily  seen,  are  variations  "i   one  process. 


322  NORTH    AMERICA 

The  wide  range  in  the  results  produced  are  dependent  on 
local  conditions,  either  in  respect  to  terranes  invaded,  as, 
for  example,  whether  or  not  they  are  undisturbed  sedi- 
mentary beds,  and  on  the  physical  condition  of  the  in- 
truded material,  in  reference  especially  to  its  degree  of 
viscosity.  There  is  an  intimate  and  even  a  genetic  con- 
nection between  intrusions  on  the  one  hand  and  volcanic 
and  fissure  eruptions  on  the  other.  If  fissures  lead  from 
portions  of  the  earth's  crust  sufficiently  deep  to  permit 
the  rocks  to  become  plastic  or  fused  on  account  of  the 
relief  of  pressure  due  to  the  opening  of  the  fissure,  the 
magma  may  be  forced  to  the  surface,  becoming  more  and 
more  plastic  or  more  perfectly  fluid  as  the  weight  upon 
it  decreased,  and  volcanic  phenomena  result;  or  if  the  fis- 
sure fails  to  reach  the  surface  intrusions  of  various  forms 
may  be  produced.  The  simplest  form  of  intrusion,  the 
dike,  results  under  whatever  condition  the  summit  portion 
of  the  magma  comes  to  rest.  A  magma  forced  upward  in 
fissures  in  the  earth's  crust  may  meet  moist  rocks  or  even 
reservoirs  of  water,  and  in  such  instances  steam  or  gases 
are  produced  and  a  new  force  is  added,  which  may  produce 
explosions. 

In  addition  to  the  intrusions  of  the  various  classes  just 
referred  to  there  are  others  on  a  far  larger  scale,  exam- 
ples of  which  occur  in  North  America,  but  as  yet  their 
mode  of  origin  has  been  but  little  studied.  I  refer  to  vast 
upwellings  of  molten  or  plastic  material  beneath  the  more 
rigid  portions  of  the  earth's  crust,  which  elevate  domes, 
perhaps  200  or  300  miles  or  more  in  their  various  hori- 
zontal diameters.  The  great  areas  occupied  by  intrusive 
granite,  as  the  one  from  which  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains 
in  Idaho  have  been  sculptured,  are  of  this  nature.  These 
"  regional  intrusions,"  as  they  may  be  termed,  elevate 
mountains  in  the  same  general  manner  as  in  the  case  of  lac- 
coliths, but  of  far  greater  size.  To  the  elevations  produced 
in  this  manner  I  have  ventured  to  apply  the  name  subtuber- 
ant  mountains,  in  expression  of  the  idea  that  they  have 
resulted  from  vertical  uplifts,  due  to  the  upswelling  of 
molten  material  beneath. 


GEOLOGY  323 

The  Metamorphic  Rocks  (Plate  IV). — At  the  contact 
of  either  sedimentary  or  igneous  rocks  with  intrusive 
rocks  of  whatever  form,  such  as  dikes,  sheets,  laccoliths, 
etc.,  there  has  been  in  many  well-known  instances  an 
alteration  of  the  terranes  penetrated  or  uplifted  which  is 
most  intense  along  the  contact  and  diminishes  at  a  dis- 
tance. This  change  or  metamorphism,  as  it  is  termed, 
consists  of  an  alteration  in  the  colour,  texture,  hardness, 
mineral  and  chemical  composition,  etc.,  of  the  rocks 
affected,  and  may  be  manifest  throughout  a  thickness  of 
but  a  few  feet,  or  perhaps  only  a  few  inches,  but  near  large 
intrusions  is  apt  to  be  traceable  for  scores  or  hundreds  of 
feet.  In  the  case  of  intense  contact  metamorphism,  the 
altered  rock  assumes  a  new  form,  and  may  exhibit  a  crys- 
talline and  foliated  or  schistose  structure.  The  changes 
referred  to  are  most  marked  when  water  is  present,  and 
are  thought  to  be  due  largely  to  the  influence  of  heat- 
ed water  percolating  through  the  rocks  and  producing 
changes  by  solution  and  deposition.  The  principal  agen- 
cies which  take  part  in  contact  metamorphism  are  heat, 
heated  waters,  pressure,  and  perhaps  movements  within 
the  rocks. 

There  are  extensive  regions  throughout  which  the 
rocks  have  been  changed  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  alter- 
ations commonly  found  adjacent  to  igneous  intrusions 
which,  in  general,  have  been  brought  about  in  some  other 
way.  This  regional  metamorphism.  as  it  is  termed,  has 
affected  the  rocks  in  certain  instances  throughout  dis- 
tricts measuring  many  hundreds  of  square  miles  in  surface 
extent,  and  with  a  vertical  range  of  many  thousands  of 
feet.  The  rocks  referred  to  have  been  changed  without 
fusion  from  a  previous  condition,  during  which  they  were 
either  sedimentary  beds  or  cooled  and  crystallized  igneous 
magma.  This  conclusion  has  been  verified  in  numerous 
instances  by  tracing  the  thoroughly  altered  rocks  to  re- 
gion- where  the  change  has  been  less  intense  and  finally 
to  where  they  pass  by  insensible  gradations  into  easily 
recognisable  sedimentary  or  igneous  terranes.  Common 
examples  of  metamorphic  rocks  are  mica,  schist,  gneiss. 


324  NORTH    AMERICA 

statuary  marble,  certain  granites,  etc.  These  rocks  fre- 
quently have  a  foliated  or  fissile  structure,  such  as  it  is 
presumed  would  result  from  a  flowing  movement  within 
the  mass  while  under  great  pressure.  Characteristically 
also  the  rocks  are  composed  of  interlocking  crystals  or 
portions  of  crystals,  which  are  not  contained  in  a  glassy  base, 
as  is  the  case  with  most  rocks  that  have  crystallized  from 
fusion.  That  is,  the  metamorphic  rocks  are  characteristic- 
ally holocrystalline,  while  igneous  rocks  are  porphyritic,  or 
cryptocrystalline. 

The  analogy  between  rocks  altered  by  contact  meta- 
morphism  and  those  affected  by  regional  metamorphism 
had  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  latter,  like  the  former, 
have  been  changed  by  heat  and  the  passage  through  them 
of  heated  water  bearing  mineral  matter,  and  especially  sil- 
ica, in  solution.  More  than  this,  the  foliation  frequently 
so  characteristic  of  metamorphic  rocks  is  considered  as 
evidence  of  a  flowing  movement  or  shearing  of  the  mate- 
rial while  under  pressure.  In  short,  rocks  are  altered  by 
heat,  especially  if  water  is  present  in  them,  by  motion,  and 
by  chemical  changes  produced  by  percolating  waters,  and 
perhaps  in  still  other  ways.  The  degree  of  heat  required 
is  not  definitely  known,  and  probably  varies  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  rocks,  the  presence  or  absence  of  water, 
etc.,  but  is  certainly  less  than  that  necessary  to  produce 
fusion,  and  is  thought,  in  general,  to  be  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  7500  F.  While  heat  alone  is  considered  as  suffi- 
cient to  produce  metamorphism,  it  is  probable  that  in  most 
instances  two  or  more  of  the  agencies  just  referred  to  have 
been  in  operation  at  the  same  time.  In  the  case  of  the 
foliated  rocks  motion  within  the  mass  seems  to  have  been 
the  predominating  factor,  and  dynamical  metamorphism  is 
considered  as  important  as  heat  metamorphism. 

In  North  America,  as  is  indicated  roughly  on  the  map 
forming  Plate  IV,  metamorphic  rocks  occur  at  the  sur- 
face over  a  great  region  in  eastern  and  northeastern  Can- 
ada, in  Labrador  and  Newfoundland,  in  the  New  England 
States,  and  thence  southward  along  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Appalachians.     Other  extensive  regions  occupied  by  sim- 


GEOLOGY  325 

ilar  rocks  occur  in  many  of  the  ranges  of  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains, from  Alaska  to  Panama,  and  are  known  in  the  West 
Indies. 

Not  onlv  do  the  metamorphosed  rocks  outcrop  at  the 
surface  over  large  areas,  but,  as  may  be  inferred  from  such 
outcrops,  as  well  as  from  the  records  of  numerous  borings, 
underlies  nearly  the  entire  extent  of  the  sedimentary  forma- 
tions. The  basal  portion  of  the  continent,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  certain  areas  where  igneous  rocks  occur,  is  formed 
of  metamorphosed  terranes.  So  generally  is  this  true,  that 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  if  a  boring  is  begun  at  any  locality 
on  the  continent  where  sedimentary  beds  occur,  and  is 
continued  downward  until  the  sedimentary  rocks  are 
passed  through,  metamorphic  terranes  will  be  found  be- 
neath. The  same  is  true  also  where  the  surface  is  com- 
posed of  lava-sheets.  The  exceptions,  where  metamor- 
phosed rocks  do  not  occur  beneath  sedimentary  or 
volcanic  beds,  are  when  igneous  intrusions  or  ancient  lava- 
flows  are  present  at  a  depth. 

In  the  brief  description  given  of  the  Archean  system 
on  a  preceding  page,  it  was  stated  that  the  rocks  com- 
posing it  are  largely  metamorphic.  But  rocks  of  prac- 
ticallv  any  age  may  be  altered  in  the  several  ways  men- 
tioned above,  and  the  resulting  gneisses,  schists,  etc.,  be 
indistinguishable  from  those  of  the  Archean.  In  fact, 
some  of  the  metamorphosed  rocks  of  North  America,  as 
certain  gneisses,  schists,  etc.,  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and 
Cascade  Mountains,  are  known  to  be  of  Mesozoic  and  even 
Cenozoic  age. 

In  speaking  of  the  growth  of  North  America,  and  again 
in  connection  with  the  distribution  of  volcanic  mountains, 
it  was  shown  that  there  has  been  a  progressive  migration 
of  the  field  of  action  of  the  forces  which  upheave  the  rocks 
so  as  to  form  land  areas,  and  also  of  the  movements  in 
the  rocks  which  produce  fractures  and  lead  to  the  origin 
of  volcanoes.  In  a  similar  way  the  sphere  of  influence 
of  metamorphism  as  indicated  by  the  age  of  the  trans- 
formed rocks  in  various  regions  has  in  a  general  wax- 
migrated  from  east  to  west  across  the  continent. 

22 


o 


26  NORTH    AMERICA 


In  the  Laurentian  Highlands  the  metamorphosed  rocks 
are  of  pre-Cambrian  age;  in  New  England  and  the  Ap- 
palachian region  they  are,  in  part  at  least,  of  Paleozoic 
age;  and  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains 
metamorphosed  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  rocks  occur.  As 
movements  in  the  outer  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  may 
produce  fractures  in  any  class  of  rocks,  and  as  such  frac- 
tures favour  the  intrusion  of  igneous  material,  the  meta- 
morphic  rocks  may  contain  igneous  intrusions  similar  to 
those  noted  above  in  connection  with  sedimentary  rocks. 
As  the  stratification  so  marked  in  sedimentary  beds  is  lack- 
ing in  metamorphosed  rocks,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
intrusions  will  take  the  form  of  sheets,  laccoliths,  etc.,  but 
rather  appear  as  dikes  with  perhaps  irregular  branches. 
As  the  same  region  may  experience  two  or  more  periods 
of  metamorphism,  it  is  evident  that  great  complexities 
may  arise,  as,  for  example,  when  a  metamorphosed  ter- 
rane  is  penetrated  by  dikes  and  irregular  intrusions  and 
again  subjected  to  metamorphosing  conditions.  These 
considerations  lead  to  the  suggestion  that  rocks  meta- 
morphosed in  pre-Cambrian  time,  for  example,  would  be 
apt  to  be  more  complex  than  those  of  Mesozoic  date.  In 
general,  this  has  been  found  to  be  true,  as  is  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  to  the  pre-Cambrian  metamorphosed  ter- 
ranes,  as  previously  stated,  the  name  Basement  Complex 
has  been  applied. 

Summary. — The  relation  of  the  three  great  divisions 
into  which  the  rocks  composing  North  America,  in  com- 
mon with  all  other  portions  of  the  known  lithosphere,  are 
divided,  may  perhaps  be  better  understood  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  igneous  rocks  came  from  below  in 
a  molten  condition ;  that  the  sedimentary  rocks  have  been 
formed  at  the  surface  from  the  debris  of  either  igneous, 
metamorphic,  or  previously  formed  sedimentary  beds;  and 
that  metamorphic  rocks  have  been  produced  ivithin  the 
earth's  outer  crust  by  the  alteration  of  either  igneous  or 
sedimentary  rocks.  When  the  heat  which  produced  cer- 
tain phases  of  metamorphism  is  sufficiently  increased, 
greater  freedom  of  molecular  and  chemical  changes  occur 


GEOLOGY  327 

and  the  material  acted  on  passes  to  the  condition  of  an 
igneous  magma.  The  three  great  classes  of  rocks  con- 
sidered above  are  thus  seen  to  be  but  stages  in  a  cycle 
which  the  material  of  the  lithosphere  passes  through. 

The  conditions  which  bring  about  these  changes  are 
still  in  action  and  are  intimately  associated  with  move- 
ments in  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust.  When  elevation 
raises  a  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  above  sea-level,  ero- 
sion and  redeposition  ensue  and  sedimentary  rocks  are 
formed;  the  greater  the  elevation  the  more  energetically 
the  forces  act  which  bring  about  denudation,  transporta- 
tion, and  sedimentation.  When  depression  occurs  of  suffi- 
cient amount  to  carry  rocks  previously  at  or  near  the  sur- 
face into  the  zone  of  metamorphism,  alterations  follow, 
and  in  general  the  deeper  the  depression  the  greater  the 
changes  until  metamorphism  culminates  in  fusion,  providing 
pressure  does  not  counteract  the  influence  of  heat.  Dy- 
namical and  chemical  metamorphism  may  occur  at  less 
depth  than  purely  heat  metamorphism,  and  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed takes  place  in  the  axes  of  mountain  ranges,  even 
above  sea-level.  Such  a  broad  view  of  the  relations  and 
genesis  of  the  three  great  lithologic  divisions  of  the  mate- 
rial forming  the  earth's  outer  crust  is  necessary  to  the 
understanding  of  the  conditions  observed  in  the  basal  por- 
tion of  the  geological  column,  as  it  is  termed,  in  which 
the  age  and  order  of  succession  of  the  sedimentary  rocks 
is  indicated.  In  certain  localities,  for  example,  the  Cam- 
brian rocks  rest  unconformably  on  a  surface  of  mctamor- 
phic  and  igneous  rocks — that  is,  the  Basement  Complex 
was  raised  above  sea-level,  eroded  and  subsequently  de- 
pressed before  the  Cambrian  sediments  were  laid  upon  it. 
In  other  localities  the  Cambrian  rocks  pass  indefinitely  into 
metamorphosed  terranes  beneath,  which  means  thai  meta- 
morphism invaded  the  series  after  the  deposition  of  the 
Cambrian,  and  the  characteristics  of  its  junction  with  older 
rocks  was  obliterated.  Similar  relations  may  evidently  be 
discovered  at  any  horizon  in  the  geological  column.  Ob- 
viously the  chances  of  a  system  of  stratified  rocks  becom- 
ing metamorphosed  or  of  being  removed  l>v  erosion,  art* 


328  NORTH    AMERICA 

greater  the  nearer  their  position  to  the  base  of  the  sedi- 
mentary series;  in  a  similar  way  the  chances  of  a  sedi- 
mentary terrane  becoming  invaded  by  igneous  intrusions 
is  greater  the  greater  its  age;  again,  the  older  a  sedimen- 
tary terrane  the  greater  the  chances  of  its  becoming  buried 
by  subsequent  deposition  and  the  less  the  likelihood  of 
its  being  exposed  for  study.  The  only  position  in  which  a 
sedimentary  formation  can  maintain  its  integrity  and  be  safe 
from  destruction  by  erosion  or  transformation  by  metamor- 
phism  is  below  sea-level  and  above  the  zone  of  heat  metamor- 
phism;  but  even  in  this  position  it  may  have  its  distinctive 
features,  including  its  fossils,  obliterated  by  dynamical  and 
chemical  alterations.  These  suggestions  are  offered  for 
the  sake  of  indicating,  as  stated  on  a  previous  page,  that 
the  Cambrian  and  Algonkian  rocks  should  not  be  con- 
sidered as  the  first  formed  sediments,  and  that  there  is 
hope  of  the  discovery  of  a  rich  fauna  of  older  date  than 
any  at  present  known.  In  the  search  for  the  earliest  evi- 
dence of  animal  life  on  the  earth,  North  America  holds  out 
favourable  conditions. 


THE    CONCENTRATION    OF    MINERAL    SUBSTANCES 

The  most  important  branch  of  geology  treats  of  the 
substances  in  the  earth's  crust  that  are  of  direct  service 
to  man,  as,  for  example,  building  stones,  coal,  iron,  petro- 
leum, gold,  etc.  Only  a  glance  can  here  be  given  at  the 
conditions  which  have  led  to  the  origin  of  the  materials 
of  commercial  value  and  to  their  geographical  distribution. 

From  the  mode  of  origin  of  the  principal  classes  of 
rocks  it  may  be  reasonably  inferred  that  certain  minerals 
and  ores  will  be  developed  or  concentrated  in  one  class 
of  rocks  and  not  in  the  others.  To  a  great  extent  the  facts 
observed  during  the  development  of  mines,  etc.,  sustain 
this  prediction. 

In  the  cooling  and  crystallizing  of  igneous  rocks  from 
a  state  of  fusion  many  minerals  are  formed,  the  most 
common  being  silicates  of  the  alkaline  earths,  which  are 
usually  inclosed  in  a  glassy  or  cryptocrystalline  base.    The 


GEOLOGY  329 

igneous  rocks  have  characteristically  a  highly  complex 
chemical  composition,  and  although  frequently  containing 
the  metallic  element,  etc.,  which  are  of  economic  impor- 
tance, these  are  widely  disseminated,  and  in  nearly  all  cases 
in  chemical  combinations,  as  the  minor  ingredients  of  sili- 
ceous minerals.  Although  the  igneous  rocks  sometimes 
contain  valuable  ores,  they  are  in  many,  if  not  all  instances, 
due  to  secondary  enrichment  and  are  not  a  result  of  pri- 
mary crystallization  from  fusion.  As  all  the  material  of 
the  earth's  crust  was  at  one  stage  in  the  series  of  changes 
it  has  experienced  consolidated  from  fusion,  it  follows  that 
the  ores  and  minerals  now  of  economic  value  did  not  then 
exist,  or  were  widely  diffused  and  have  since  been  formed 
or  concentrated. 

The  processes  of  concentration  referred  to  are  carried 
on  in  various  ways  through  the  agency  of  mechanical, 
chemical,  vital,  molecular,  and  electrical  forces,  acting 
singly  or  in  association.  For  example,  concentration 
through  the  action  of  mechanical  agencies  is  illustrated  by 
the  manner  in  which  rocks  are  reduced  to  fragments  in 
the  every-day  process  of  denudation  and  the  resulting 
debris  removed  by  streams  and  redeposited.  In  this  proc- 
ess an  assorting  in  reference  to  size,  specific  gravity,  etc., 
takes  place,  and  certain  substances,  as  sand,  for  instance, 
is  accumulated  in  one  locality,  and  certain  other  substances. 
as  clay,  deposited  in  another  locality.  During  this  process 
gold,  platinum,  etc.,  owing  to  their  high  specific  gravity, 
may  be  concentrated  in  stream  channels.  The  accumu- 
lation of  mineral  matter  through  the  action  mainly  of 
chemical  agencies,  occurs  when  the  waters  percolating 
through  rocks  dissolves  certain  substances,  as  calcium 
carbonate,  for  instance,  and  on  coming  to  the  surface  as 
springs,  or  dripping  from  the  roofs  of  caverns,  deposit 
calcareous  tufa,  stalactites,  etc.  Silica,  iron,  manganese, 
and  other  substances  are  frequently  concentrated  in  a  sim- 
ilar manner. 

Concentration  of  previously  widely  disseminated  sub- 
stances principally  through  the  agency  of  vital  Forces,  is 
illustrated    by   the   manner   in    which    molluscs   and    polyps 


330  NORTH    AMERICA 

obtain  calcium  carbonate  from  water  and  deposit  it  in 
their  shells  or  skeletons.  The  part  played  by  plants  in  this 
same  connection  is  shown  by  the  way  in  which  they  elimi- 
nate carbon  dioxide  from  the  air  or  from  water,  and  con- 
centrate the  carbon  in  their  tissues.  From  the  carbon 
accumulated  in  this  manner,  under  certain  conditions,  de- 
posits of  peat,  lignite,  coal,  graphite,  etc.,  have  resulted. 

What  may  provisionally  at  least  be  termed  molecular 
concentration  occurs  when  similar  molecules  are  brought 
together  largely  by  water  and  crystallized  to  form  mineral 
species.  In  order  to  simplify  this  brief  discussion  as  much 
as  practicable,  this  phase  of  concentration  will  be  included 
under  the  chemical  processes  referred  to  above. 

The  three  principal  methods  by  which  mineral  sub- 
stances are  concentrated,  namely,  the  mechanical,  chem- 
ical, and  vital,  have  in  the  main  different  fields  of  action. 
The  mechanical  and  vital  agencies  operate  at  the  surface 
of  the  lithosphere,  although  organic  products,  principally 
certain  acids,  descend  into  the  earth  in  solution  in  water 
and  play  an  important  part  in  deep-seated  chemical 
changes,  as  in  the  formation  of  mineral  veins.  The  chem- 
ical agencies  bring  about  the  concentration  of  mineral 
substances  both  at  or  near  the  surface  and  at  a  depth. 

The  intensity  with  which  the  several  agencies  just  re- 
ferred to  operate  varies  according  to  conditions.  The  me- 
chanical agencies,  for  example,  acting  mainly  through  the 
aid  of  flowing  water,  are  in  general  most  potent  in  humid 
regions  and  where  the  land  is  high  above  sea-level.  Vital 
agencies  depend  largely  on  climate  and  are  most  active  in 
warm  humid  regions.  The  chemical  agencies  are  influenced 
largely  by  heat,  the  presence  of  water,  and  by  pressure. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  high  degree  of  heat 
leads  to  the  dissipation  and  wide  distribution  of  substances 
previously  concentrated;  fusion,  for  example,  permitting 
ol  the  intimate  mingling  or  recombination  of  substances, 
previously  segregated,  although  during  the  dying  stages  of 
volcanic  activity  minerals  like  sulphur,  cinnabar,  etc.,  may 
be  directly  condensed  and  thus  concentrated  from  a  vapor- 
ous condition. 


GEOLOGY  33i 

During-  the  formation  of  the  three  main  classes  of 
rocks  composing  the  earth's  crust,  the  agencies  leading  to 
the  concentration  of  various  substances  now  of  economic 
importance  have  to  a  great  extent  been  different,  and 
hence  in  a  marked  way  the  stones,  ores,  fuels,  gems,  etc., 
to  be  expected  in  each  of  the  three  classes  of  rocks,  re- 
spectively, are  distinct.  Certain  exceptions  to  this  broad 
conclusion,  however,  arise  from  the  fact  that  rocks  belong- 
ing to  each  of  the  classes  referred  to  may  have  been 
brought  within  the  influence  of  the  same  or  similar  con- 
centrating agencies  and  like  results  produced  in  each  class. 

Economic  Importance  of  the  Igneous  Terranes. — The 
igneous  rocks,  as  previously  noted,  are  such  as  have 
cooled  from  fusion.  On  the  cooling  of  magmas  various 
minerals  are  formed,  most  commonly  silicates,  and  except 
in  a  minor  way  in  connection  with  the  weaker  stages  of 
volcanic  activity  and  the  slow  cooling  of  the  rocks,  there 
does  not  seem  to  be  any  marked  tendency  towards  the 
concentration  or  segregation  of  metallic  minerals  or  ores. 
Although  igneous  rocks  do  contain  gold,  silver,  copper, 
etc.,  and  a  large  variety  of  the  rarer  metals,  they  are  widely 
disseminated.  As  is  well  known,  however,  igneous  rocks 
are  in  some  instances  of  value  for  the  metallic  mineral, 
gems,  and  ores  associated  with  them,  but  in  the  great 
majority  of  instances  at  least,  and  as  a  rule,  these  minerals 
and  ores  are  the  result  of  subsequent  changes  and  owe 
their  origin  mainly  to  deposition  from  heated,  percolating 
water.  Rich  ore  bodies  frequently  occur  on  the  borders 
of  igneous  dikes,  and  in  fissures  and  cavities  in  igneous 
rocks,  but  the  process  by  which  they  have  been  formed  is 
similar  to  that  leading  to  the  concentration  of  mineral  mat- 
ter in  metamorphic  rocks,  and  will  be  referred  to  later. 

The  igneous  rocks  themselves  furnish  desirable  build- 
ing stones,  such  as  granite,  diorite,  porphyry,  diabase,  etc. 
Willi  the  exception  of  granite  and  the  nearly  related  dio- 
rite,  these  have  not  as  vet  been  extensively  utilized  in 
North  America.  Certain  <>f  the  igneous  rocks  have  been 
altered  to  serpentine,  which  on  account  <>f  its  pleasing 
green  colour  and  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  cu1  and 


332  NORTH    AMERICA 

polished  furnishes  a  stone  valuable  for  interior  uses.  It 
is  also  employed,  usually  with  a  rough  surface,  in  the  con- 
struction of  exterior  walls  of  dwellings,  gateways,  etc. 
Large  bodies  of  serpentine  occur  at  a  number  of  localities 
in  the  Atlantic  mountains  from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland 
northward,  including  eastern  Canada,  and  also  over  exten- 
sive areas  in  the  Pacific  mountains,  particularly  in  Califor- 
nia. Washington,  and  Alaska. 

The  principal  ores  and  minerals  of  commercial  impor- 
tance in  the  igneous  rocks  are  native  copper,  as  in  northern 
Michigan;  copper  pyrites,  as  at  Butte,  Montana-;  gold,  at 
many  localities,  including  the  Treadwell  mine,  Alaska;  opal, 
which  is  mined  on  a  small  scale  in  Idaho  and  Washington. 
In  practically  all  these  instances,  and  numerous  others 
that  might  be  enumerated,  the  substances  referred  to 
have  been  deposited  from  solution  in  cavities  in  the  rocks 
or  have  replaced  other  substances,  and  are  due  to  what  is 
termed  above  chemical  concentration. 

Economic  Importance  of  the  Sedimentary  Terranes. — The 
sedimentary  rocks  are  composed  principally  of  fragmental 
material  derived  from  the  disintegration  of  older  rocks 
transported  and  deposited  mechanically,  and  resulting  in 
the  formation  of  sandstone,  shale,  etc.,  and  of  organically 
concentrated  material,  such  as  shells  and  corals,  which 
form  limestones.  The  deposits  originating  in  these  ways 
furnish  excellent  building  stones,  the  principal  classes 
being  sandstones  and  limestones.  These  occur  widely 
throughout  North  America,  and  in  formations  of  all  ages 
subsequent  to  the  Archean.  The  sandstones  were  de- 
posited near  the  shores  of  the  seas,  or  in  lakes,  and  the 
limestones  principally  in  moderately  deep  oceans. 

Sandstones  occur  largely  in  the  Cambrian  formation 
on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior  and  about  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Adirondack  hills  of  New  York.  They  are  usu- 
ally red  or  reddish-brown  rocks,  and  their  pleasing  colours, 
durability,  even  grain,  and  the  readiness  with  which  they 
may  be  broken  in  any  direction  make  them  desirable  build- 
ing stones. 

The  Newark  system,  extending  in  detached  areas  from 


GEOLOGY  333 

Nova  Scotia  to  South  Carolina,  contains  immense  quanti- 
ties of  brown  and  gray  sandstone,  which  have  been  exten- 
sively quarried,  particularly  in  the  Connecticut  Valley, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  and  largely  used 
in  Atlantic  coast  cities.  The  Carboniferous  and  Devonian 
sandstones,  usually  of  a  gray  colour,  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
and  neighbouring  States,  are  largely  used  in  the  cities  of  the 
interior  portions  of  the  United  States.  Extensive  deposits 
of  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  sandstones  occur  throughout 
the  Pacific  mountains,  and  afford  a  practically  unlimited 
supply  of  good  building  material,  which  as  yet  has  been  but 
little  utilized.  The  colours  of  sandstones  vary  from  bright 
red  through  brown-yellow  to  gray,  and  in  some  cases  are 
nearly  white,  depending  largely  on  the  condition  of  the 
iron  present.  The  red  rocks  are  dyed  with  ferric  oxide; 
the  brownstones  contain  iron,  frequently  in  the  cement- 
ing material  that  unites  the  grains,  in  various  stages  of 
oxidation  and  hydration;  the  gray  stones  may  also  con- 
tain iron,  but  if  present  it  is  in  union  with  organic  matter, 
as  the  ferric  carbonate,  for  example.  The  Cambrian  and 
Newark  sandstones  are  prevailingly  of  some  shade  of  red, 
for  the  reason  that  not  enough  organic  matter  is  present 
to  change  the  iron  to  a  carbonate. 

The  sandstones  when  of  an  even  fine  grain  and  not  too 
hard,  are  suitable  for  sharpening  tools,  and  large  quanti- 
ties of  grindstones,  whetstones,  etc.,  are  made  from  them. 
as  on  the  Lake  Huron  shore  of  Michigan,  in  Ohio.  etc. 
Other  sandstones,  practically  free  from  iron,  are  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  glass.  The  best  example  of  "glass 
sand"  is  the  Sylvania  sandstone  of  southeastern  Michi- 
gan. Unconsolidated  sand  is  largely  used  in  mixing  mor- 
tars and  cements,  for  smoothing  stones  used  for  archi- 
tectural and  monumental  purposes,  as  foundry  sand  in 
making  moulds  for  casting,  and  many  other  ways.  Sea- 
ward from  where  sand  is  being  deposited  we  find  in  the 
presenl  oceans  thai  as  a  rule  fine  bluish  or  greenish  mud 
occurs,  and  still  farther  seaward,  except  where  COral  polyps 
thrive,  usually  at  a  distance  of  [oo  miles  or  more  fn  m  land, 
the  bottom  is  composed  of  calcareous  mud  or  ooze.      I  he 


334  NORTH    AMERICA 

sand  and  mud  are  derived  from  the  land,  and  if  consolidated 
form  sandstone  and  shale.  The  calcareous  ooze  is  derived 
from  the  life  of  the  sea,  largely  minute  lime-secreting 
foraminifera,  together  with  shells  of  molluscs,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  coral  islands  or  reefs  the  hard  parts  of  coral 
growth  are  added.  That  is,  the  calcareous  oozes  are 
formed  by  the  concentration  of  calcium  carbonate  through 
the  vital  action  of  animals  and  to  a  less  extent  of  plants. 
Such  material,  if  consolidated,  would  form  ordinary  lime- 
stone. 

In  North  America  there  are  terranes  scores  of  hun- 
dreds of  miles  across  in  various  directions  and  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  of  feet  thick  that  have  been  formed 
in  the  manner  just  indicated.  From  this  mode  of  origin  it 
may  be  truthfully  inferred  that  limestone  may  have  been 
formed  during  any  age  since  organisms  having  the  power 
of  secreting  calcium  carbonate  existed  on  the  earth.  The 
limestones  of  North  America  range  in  age  from  the  Al- 
gonkian  period  to  the  present  time,  and  are  still  being 
formed  in  the  ocean  and  in  a  minor  way  in  lakes. 

Impure  limestones,  frequently  coloured  or  clouded  with 
red,  due  to  ferric  oxide,  are  quarried  on  an  extensive  scale 
in  eastern  Tennessee,  and  are  used  for  decorative  purposes. 
The  Tennessee  limestones  referred  to  are  of  Paleozoic 
age;  in  Florida  porous  rocks,  known  as  coquina,  composed 
of  imperfectly  consolidated  shells  of  living  species  of  mol- 
luscs, are  used  in  the  construction  of  buildings.  Gray  lime- 
stones susceptible  of  a  good  polish  occur  in  Ohio  and 
neighbouring  States  and  are  utilized  to  some  extent  for  col- 
umns and  interior  finish  of  buildings,  but  in  the  main  the 
stones  of  this  nature  when  employed  for  architectural  pur- 
poses are  rough-faced.  Vast  amounts  of  limestone  suit- 
able for  masonry  occur  widely  throughout  the  Mississippi 
Valley  in  many  of  the  ranges  of  the  Pacific  mountains,  espe- 
cially in  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  and  are  also  of 
immense  thickness  in  the  West  Indies. 

In  many  instances  limestone  has  been  metamorphosed, 
as  will  be  described  below,  and  converted  into  crystalline 
marble.     Commercially,   however,  all   limestone,   whether 


GEOLOGY  335 

crystalline  or  not,  which  is  susceptible  of  a  polish,  is  termed 
marble. 

Under  certain  conditions  calcium  carbonate  is  concen- 
trated at  or  near  the  earth's  surface  by  chemical  agencies, 
as  about  springs  where  calcareous  tufa,  travertine,  etc., 
are  precipitated,  and  in  caverns  where  stalactites  and  sta- 
lagmites are  formed.  Stalagmite  sheets  are  sometimes 
composed  of  variegated,  laminated  layers,  and  when  pol- 
ished produce  a  beautiful  decorative  stone  which  passes 
under  the  name  of  onyx  marble.  Deposits  of  this  char- 
acter of  commercial  importance  occur  in  Arizona  and 
Mexico. 

Calcium  carbonate  concentrated  in  lakes  through  the 
combined  action  of  chemical  and  vital  agencies  produces 
the  so-called  marl,  now  extensively  utilized  in  the  manu- 
facture of  Portland  cement.  In  this  mode  of  accumula- 
tion the  calcium  carbonate  is  dissolved  by  percolating 
waters  from  the  rocks  and  soils  and  carried  to  lakes  in 
solution:  it  is  there  precipitated  largely  through  the  vital 
action  of  certain  algae  and  deposited  as  a  fine  white  ooze. 
Thousands  of  deposits  of  this  nature,  varying  in  extent 
up  to  several  hundred  acres,  and  having  a  depth  of  from 
a  few  feet  to  40  and  even  60  or  more  feet,  occur  in  the 
portion  of  the  continent  covered  with  glacial  drift,  and 
especially  in  the  States  from  New  England  to  Minnesota. 
The  reasons  for  the  greater  abundance  of  marl  in  this  re- 
gion than  elsewhere  are  that  the  glacial  drift  is  there 
highly  calcareous,  numerous  lakes  are  present,  and  the 
climatic  conditions  are  such  as  to  favour  the  growth  of 
certain  aquatic  plants,  and  especially  the  Characece  or 
stoneworts.  which  have  the  property  of  eliminating  cal- 
cium carbonate  from  ordinary  lake  waters. 

The  importance  of  the  vital  agencies  in  concentrating 
substances  of  economic  value  is  illustrated  by  the  manner 
in  which  coal,  petroleum,  and  natural  or  rock  gas,  etc., 
have  been  formed. 

Land  plants  have  the  power,  under  the  influence  of 
light,  of  decomposing  the  carbon  dioxide  (carbonic -acid 
gas)  of  the  air  and  fixing  the  carbon  in  their  tissues,  the 


13,6  NORTH    AMERICA 


OJ 


oxygen  being  liberated  and  rendered  available  for  animal 
respiration.  Carbon  is  thus  concentrated,  and  when  plant 
remains  accumulate  and  are  preserved  beneath  water  in 
swamps,  a  slow  change  takes  place  and  peat  is  formed. 
The  essential  conditions  for  the  accumulation  of  vegetable 
matter  have  been  present  on  the  earth  ever  since  a  land 
flora  existed,  and  coal-beds  occur  at  many  different  hori- 
zons. The  earliest  date  at  which  land  plants  seem  to 
have  been  sufficiently  abundant  to  furnish  material  for 
coal-beds  was  the  Carboniferous  period.  Although  a  sim- 
ilar flora  existed  during  the  preceding  period,  the  Devo- 
nian, no  coal-beds  of  workable  thickness  are  known  in  the 
rocks  of  that  age.  Since  the  Carboniferous  period  coal  has 
been  found  at  many  horizons  in  the  sedimentary  rocks,  and 
peat  is  being  accumulated  at  the  present  day. 

The  coal-fields  of  North  America  are  more  extensive 
than  those  of  any  other  continent,  excepting,  perhaps, 
the  at  present  but  little  known  coal-bearing  formations  of 
Asia,  and  are  distributed  in  temperate  latitudes,  from  tide- 
water on  the  Atlantic  to  tide-water  on  the  Pacific  coasts, 
where  the  greatest  commercial  and  intellectual  development 
has  been   reached. 

Coal  of  Carboniferous  age  occurs  in  large  and  valu- 
able deposits  in  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick;  there 
is  a  small  area  of  graphitic  anthracite,  not  now  utilized, 
in  Rhode  Island;  but  the  great  fields  are  in  Pennsylvania 
and  the  States  southward  to  central  Alabama,  and  west- 
ward to  beyond  the  Mississippi.  A  detached  coal-basin 
containing  some  6,700  square  miles,  but  a  small  part  of 
which  is  productive,  however,  occurs  in  the  central  part  of 
southern  Michigan.  Small  coal-fields  in  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  the  first  to  be  worked  in  America,  are  of 
Jura-Trias  age  and  form  part  of  the  Newark  system.  Ex- 
tensive fields  of  valuable  coal  of  Mesozoic  age,  principally 
in  the  Laramie  system,  occur  in  New  Mexico,  Colorado, 
Wyoming,  Montana,  and  still  farther  north  along  the 
same  great  belt  in  Canada. 

Another  highly  valuable  field  of  Mesozoic  coal  is  now 
being    extensively    worked    on    Vancouver    Island.      The 


MAP  SHOWING  THE  DISTR13IITI0N 
OF  COAL  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Fig.  34- 


1*8  NORTH    AMERICA 


JO 


coals  of  the  west  side  of  the  Pacific  mountains,  largely 
lignites,  but  in  many  instances  of  high  grade  and  service- 
able for  steam  coal,  are  mostly  of  Cenozoic  age  (Tertiary) 
and  occur  in  California,  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Alaska. 
The  distribution  of  the  various  coal-fields  is  indicated  on 
the  above  map,  and  space  will  not  be  taken  in  describing 
their  geographical  relations. 

Peat  is  present  in  innumerable  swamps  throughout  the 
humid,  temperate  portion  of  the  continent,  especially  from 
Louisiana  and  Florida  northward,  to  the  region  about  the 
Great  Lakes  and  widely  throughout  Canada,  but  is  at 
present  of  small  commercial  importance,  although  steps  are 
being  taken  for  its  extensive  utilization. 

The  most  valuable  of  the  coal  deposits  are  of  Car- 
boniferous age,  and  lie  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains. The  most  of  the  coal  is  bituminous,  or  soft  coal, 
used  principally  in  generating  steam  and  for  manufac- 
turing gas  and  coke.  The  exceptions  occur  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania  and  in  Rhode  Island.  These  are  considered 
as  metamorphosed  coals,  although  in  the  Pennsylvania 
region  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  action  of  a  high  degree 
of  heat.  In  the  Rhode  Island  field  the  rocks  associated 
with  the  coal  are  plainly  metamorphic  in  character,  and 
the  coal  has,  in  large  part,  been  changed  to  graphitic  an- 
thracite. 

That  anthracite  may  be  of  any  age,  however,  is  indi- 
cated by  the  local  changes  that  have  occurred  in  Meso- 
zoic  and  Cenozoic  coals,  where  they  have  been  penetrated 
by  dikes  and  other  varieties  of  intrusions,  or  have  been 
altered  by  surface  lava-flows.  In  such  situations  the  coal 
has  lost  nearly  all  its  volatile  matter,  and  in  composition 
and  in  certain  instances,  as  in  western  Colorado,  in  physical 
character  as  well,  is  essentially  an  anthracite. 

In  addition  to  the  various  coal  deposits  referred  to 
above  there  is  a  second  series  of  organic  compounds  found 
stored  in  sedimentary  rocks  which  consists  of  hydrocar- 
bon. This  series  of  substances  includes  natural  or  rock 
gas,  petroleum,  maltha  or  semifluid  hydrocarbon,  and 
solid  hydrocarbons,  such  as  asphaltum,  albertite,  graham- 


GEOLOGY 


339 


ite,  ozokerite,  etc.  These  substances  are  usually  consid- 
ered as  being  of  organic  origin  and  to  have  resulted  from 
changes  which  take  place  in  vegetable  and  animal  tissues 
when  buried  and  in  most  cases  subjected  to  heavy  pres- 
sure. A  large  part  of  the  hydrocarbons  referred  to  is 
thought  to  have  been  derived  from  animal  organisms,  an 
opinion  which  is  sustained  in  an  important  manner  by  the 
fact  that  large  stores  of  both  petroleum  and  rock-gas  have 
been  discovered  in  rocks  which  were  laid  down  before  land 
vegetation  is  known  to  have  existed.  Marine  algae  were 
present,  however,  so  that  it  cannot  be  affirmed  that  the 
hydrocarbon  of  the  earlier  Paleozoic  rocks  came  entirely 
from  animal  organisms.  It  is  highly  probable,  however, 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  hydrocarbons  stored  in  Paleo- 
zoic and  later  strata  was  derived  from  the  animals  whose 
hard  parts  occur  so  abundantly  as  fossils  in  the  same  or 
adjacent  beds. 

Besides  the  concentration  of  carbon  in  plant  and  ani- 
mal tissues  and  its  change  to  hydrocarbons,  there  is  a  still 
further  concentration  necessary  in  order  that  stores  of  pe- 
troleum, gas,  etc.,  shall  be  accumulated  so  as  to  be  of 
economic  value.  This  accumulation  is  dependent  largely 
on  physical  conditions.  The  production  of  hydrocarbons 
from  organic  matter  contained  in  sedimentary  rocks,  and 


Fig.  35. — Ideal  section  showing  favourable  conditions  for  the  storage 
of  petroleum  and  gas. 

particularly  in  shale,  is  going  on  in  many  regions,  and 
probably  nearly  everywhere,  especially  when  the  soft  parts 
of  animals  are  buried  in  the  rocks,  bul  the  petroleum,  gas, 
etc.,  generated  escape  at  the  surface  and  pass  into  the  air 
and  are  again  widely  disseminated,  unless  conditions  are 
presenl  which  lead  to  their  accumulation.  The  condi- 
tions favouring  the  natural  storage  of  the  substances  re- 
ferred to  are  cavities,  or  more  usually  porous  beds,  such 


34Q  NORTH    AMERICA 

as  sandstone,  beneath  impervious  beds,  such  as  clay  or 
shale.  The  conditions  are  still  more  favourable  when  lat- 
eral as  well  as  vertical  escape  is  cut  off,  as,  for  example, 
when  arches  or  domes  occur.  The  most  favourable  con- 
ditions result  when  a  bed  of  shale  or  other  rock,  as  a,  Fig.  35, 
from  which  hydrocarbons  are  being  evolved  occur  beneath 
a  sheet  of  porous  sandstone  or  fissured  rock  of  any  kind,  b, 
above  which  there  is  a  close-textured,  unfractured  stratum, 
such  as  shale,  c,  and  the  series  is  bent  along  certain  axes  into 
upward  folds  or  anticlinals.  Under  these  conditions,  as  ex- 
tended experience  has  shown,  a  well  drilled  at  d  should  yield 
in  succession  gas,  petroleum,  and  water. 

The  conditions  for  the  production  of  petroleum,  gas, 
etc.,  have  been  present  on  the  earth  since  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  life,  and  reservoirs  may  have  originated  at 
any  subsequent  time.  The  oldest  known  reservoirs  still 
charged  with  these  substances  that  have  been  discovered 
occur  in  the  earlier  Paleozoic  rocks,  just  above  the  forma- 
tions containing  the  oldest  known  fauna.  Important 
petroleum  and  gas  fields  in  rocks  of  the  Trenton  period 
occur  in  Xew  York,  Ontario,  Ohio,  and  Indiana.  The 
Devonian  rocks  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Ontario,  etc., 
also  yield  large  supplies  of  both  oil  and  gas.  Mesozoic 
rocks  of  Colorado,  Wyoming,  etc.,  are  also  rich  in  the 
concentrated  hydrocarbon  referred  to,  and  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  particularly  in  California,  rocks  of  Cenozoic  age  are 
highly  productive.  Petroleum  and  gas  may  occur  also  in 
rocks  more  recent  than  the  Cenozoic,  but  owing  to  the 
absence  of  reservoirs,  and  possibly  the  lack  of  sufficient 
time,  no  important  accumulations  are  known  in  beds  more 
recent  than  the  Tertiary,  unless  they  come  from  a  deeper 
source  in  older  rocks.  The  vast  quantity  of  petroleum 
stored  in  the  rocks  of  various  ages  in  North  America  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  1900  the  yield  from  the  wells 
of  the  United  States  was  63,362,704  barrels,  and  from 
Canadian  wells  about  280,000  barrels,  making  a  total  of 
nearly  64.000,000  barrels. 

The  stores  of  rock-gas  are  also  enormous,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  a  single  well  at  Bairdstown,  Ohio, 


GEOLOGY  341 

yielded  over  17.000,000  cubic  feet  per  day.  In  1890  the 
average  daily  flow  of  the  Indiana  gas-wells  was  779.525,- 
000  cubic  feet.  The  value  of  the  natural  gas  consumed  in 
the  United  States  in  1900  was  $23,606,463. 

In  the  sedimentary  rocks  of  North  America  there  occur 
also  extensive  and  valuable  deposits  of  semifluid  and  solid 
hydrocarbons,  such  as  maltha,  asphaltum,  albertite,  gra- 
hamite.  uintahite,  etc.,  which  have  arisen,  under  the  most 
plausible  explanation  thus  far  offered,  from  the  concentra- 
tion by  evaporation  of  fluid  hydrocarbons  such  as  petroleum. 
The  evaporation,  particularly  of  heavy  petroleum,  leads  to 
the  formation  of  a  solid  residue,  similar  to  asphaltum.  In 
fact,  there  is  no  definite  boundary  between  the  lightest  naph- 
tha and  the  most  coal-like  asphaltum.  They  form  a  con- 
nected hydrocarbon  series,  analogous  to  the  coal  series. 

Albertite,  a  bright,  coal-like  substance,  exceedingly  rich 
in  volatile  hydrocarbon,  occupies  fissures  in  Carboniferous 
rocks  in  Xova  Scotia,  and  a  similar  but  less  lustrous  miner- 
al, termed  grahamite,  occurs  in  fissures  in  rock  of  the  same 
age,  near  a  rich  oil-pool  in  West  Virginia.  Other  sim- 
ilar deposits,  but  usually  wax-like  and  dull,  are  found  in 
Utah  and  neighbouring  States.  Asphaltum  occurs  in  vast 
quantities  in  southern  California,  and  also  in  Cuba;  these 
deposits  resemble  the  celebrated  asphaltum  of  Trinidad 
and  give  promise  of  being  fully  as  extensive  and  valuable. 

In  brief,  gaseous,  fluid,  semifluid,  and  solid  hydrocar- 
bons in  great  variety  are  widely  distributed  throughout 
the  portions  of  North  America  where  the  surface  is  com- 
posed of  sedimentary  beds,  and  in  a  few  instances  occur 
in  cavities  in  igneous  rocks  as  well. 

The  influence  of  life  in  leading  to  the  concentration 
of  substances  of  commercial  value  is  still  further  illustrated 
by  the  beds  of  diatomaceous  earth  which  are  found  in  vari- 
ous portions  of  North  America  and  elsewhere,  particularly 
in  Cenozoic  and  more  recent  terranes.  Beds  of  diatoma- 
ceous earth  reported  to  be  40  feet  thick  and  of  wide  ex- 
tent have  been  found  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  similar 

deposits    OCCUr  at    several   localities   in    Oregon,   California, 
etc.      The   use-    of    this    line,    white,    floUf-llke   powder,    e.icli 
23 


342  NORTH    AMERICA 

minute  grain  of  which  is  a  beautiful  siliceous  organism, 
are  for  polishing  powder,  as  an  ingredient  in  friction  soap, 
as  an  absorbent  for  nitroglycerine  in  the  manufacture  of 
high  explosives,  etc. 

A  class  of  substances  of  economic  importance  which 
owe  their  accumulation  to  chemical  agencies  acting  at 
the  surface  of  the  earth  is  well  illustrated  by  deposits  of 
rock  salt  and  gypsum. 

In  the  Silurian  system  in  New  York,  Ontario,  Mich- 
igan, etc.,  several  beds  of  rock  salt  and  gypsum  occur,  indi- 
cating that  there  were  formerly  a  number  of  separate  evap- 
orating basins  in  that  region.  The  beds  of  salt  vary  in 
thickness  from  a  few  inches  to  over  300  feet,  as  at  Tulley, 
New  York.  At  Goodrich,  Ontario,  6  beds  of  salt  from  6  to 
35  feet  thick  have  been  penetrated  in  a  single  well.  With  the 
salt  in  this  the  Salina  formation  there  are  many  beds  of 
gypsum.  In  rocks  of  Carboniferous  age  in  Michigan, 
other  extensive  beds  of  salt  and  gypsum  have  been  dis- 
covered. In  Louisiana,  Texas,  Utah,  and  other  States, 
salt  and  gypsum  occur  in  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  rocks. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  deposits  is  beneath 
small  islands  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  off  the  Louisiana  coast. 
On  Jefferson  Island,  for  example,  rock  salt  was  reached 
recently  at  a  depth  of  260  feet  beneath  Cenozoic  rock, 
and  was  penetrated  for  over  1,800  feet  without  reaching 
the  base  of  the  deposit.  The  supply  of  salt  stored  in  the 
rocks,  and  the  natural  brines  of  the  arid  region,  such  as 
the  waters  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  afford  an  inexhaustible 
supply  upon  which  comparatively  small  demands  have 
thus  far  been  made. 

In  addition  to  salt  and  gypsum  there  are  other  sub- 
stances that  have  been  accumulated  in  a  similar  manner, 
such,  for  example,  as  sodium  sulphate,  of  which  large  beds- 
occur  in  the  desiccated  lake  basins  of  the  arid  region, 
sodium  bromide,  which  is  obtained  from  some  of  the 
ancient  brines  pumped  from  deep  wells  in  Michigan. 

Next  to  the  fossil  fuels,  the  most  important  products 
of  the  rocks  in  North  America  are  the  iron  ores.  Al- 
though certain  igneous  rocks  are  rich  in  iron,  and  in  some 


GEOLOGY 


JH-J 


instances  contain  it  even  in  a  pure  or  metallic  state,  none 
of  the  rocks  that  have  cooled  from  fusion  carry  iron  in  any 
form  in  sufficient  quantities  to  be  of  commercial  impor- 
tance. Most  of  the  iron  in  igneous  rocks  is  contained  in 
mineral,  usually  silicates,  and  would  be  difficult  to  sepa- 
rate. When  exposed  to  the  air  and  to  percolating  water, 
the  iron-bearing  minerals  of  the  igneous  or  other  rocks 
decay  and  the  iron  enters  into  various  new  combinations. 
When  organic  acids  are  present,  and  especially  carbon 
dioxide,  ferrous  carbonate  is  formed,  which  is  quite  solu- 
ble, and  is  taken  into  solution  by  percolating  water,  some 
of  which  emerges  as  springs,  and  joins  the  surface  run-off, 
which  may  also  take  up  ferrous  carbonate  in  solution. 
One  of  the  most  common  methods  by  which  iron  ore  is 
accumulated  is  when  water  carrying  ferrous  carbonate  in 
solution  forms  swamps  and  lakes,  and  in  many  instances 
as  the  water  is  exposed  to  the  air  and  aided  by  evapora- 
tion it  parts  with  a  portion  of  its  carbon  dioxide,  and  the 
hydrated  sesquioxide  of  iron  or  limonite  results.  When, 
under  similar  conditions,  an  excess  of  organic  matter  is  pres- 
ent, beds  of  ferrous  carbonate  are  formed.  In  other  instances 
iron  oxide  is  precipitated  in  swamps  and  lakes  through  the 
action  of  low  forms  of  plant  life.  The  ores  of  iron  concen- 
trated in  these  ways  are  in  many  instances  in  well-defined 
layers,  or  lenticular  bodies,  which  are  thickest  in  the  cen- 
tral portion  and  thin  out  in  all  directions.  Their  forms  are 
determined  mainly  by  the  shapes  of  the  depressions  they 
occupy.  Both  ferrous  carbonate  and  limonite,  however, 
occur  in  irregular  surface  deposits. 

In  North  America,  bog-iron  ores  occur  at  the  surface 
in  many  regions,  in  existing  swamps  and  about  springs, 
but  are  seldom  of  economic  importance,  owing  in  part  to 
the  great  abundance  of  better  ores.  Limonite  occurs  at 
the  surface  also,  having  been  deposited  in  cavities  and  as 
a  cement  for  loose  fragments,  particularly  on  the  weath- 
ered outcrops  of  formations  rich  in  iron.  When  rocks 
contain  but  a  fraction  of  I  per  cent  of  iron,  the  soil  on 
their  weathered  outcrops,  owing  to  the  removal  of  the 
more  soluble  ingredients  and  the  leaving  of  the  less  solu- 


344  NORTH    AMERICA 

ble  oxidized  iron,  have  a  yellow,  brown,  or  red  colour,  and 
in  some  instances  this  process  of  concentration  has  pro- 
duced workable  iron  ore.  Limonite  and  earthy  hematites 
occur  widely  throughout  the  Appalachian  region,  in  cen- 
tral New  York,  and  westward  to  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
One  of  the  most  productive  formations  is  the  Clinton,  a 
division  of  the  Silurian,  the  outcrop  of  which  extends  in  a 
nearly  continuous  band  from  Alabama,  where  at  Birming- 
ham,'etc.,  it  is  extensively  worked,  northward  along  the 
west  side  of  the  Appalachians  to  central  New  York,  and 
thence  westward  to  Ohio,  and  appears  again  in  Wisconsin. 
At  many  localities  throughout  this  belt,  some  1,300  miles 
in  length,  iron  furnaces  have  been  built,  although  now 
mostly  abandoned,  the  ore  supply  being  the  weathered 
outcrop  of  the  Clinton  limestone. 

In  the  Carboniferous  rocks  of  Pennsylvania  and  neigh- 
bouring States  to  the  south  and  west,  layers  of  ferrous 
carbonate,  formed  when  there  was  an  excess  of  organic 
matter  present,  termed  black-band  ore  and  kidney  ore, 
occur.  The  former  is  present  as  regular  strata  and  the  lat- 
ter in  oval  concretionary  masses.  These  ores,  although 
not  as  rich  in  iron  and  less  pure  than  certain  other  and 
more  abundant  and  more  accessible  deposits,  have  been  ex- 
tensively utilized,  largely  for  the  reason  that  they  occur  in 
the  same  formation  which  furnishes  coal  available  for  their 
reduction. 

Deposits  of  iron  ore  accumulated  in  the  several  ways 
referred  to  above  may  be  metamorphosed  and  changed 
to  hematite  and  magnetite.  The  richest  iron  ores  of  North 
America  are  of  this  nature,  and  will  be  referred  to  below 
in  connection  with  other  substances  of  economic  impor- 
tance contained  in  the  metamorphic  rocks. 

There  are  various  other  substances  in  the  stratified 
rocks  of  North  America  of  economic  importance  which 
owe  their  value  to  some  process  of  concentration.  Cer- 
tain rocks,  as  the  so-called  greensands  or  marls  of  eastern 
New  Jersey,  contain  from  3  to  10  per  cent  of  potash,  which 
makes  them  valuable  fertilizers.  In  this  instance  the  con- 
centration took  place  on  the  floor  of  the  sea,  through  the 


GEOLOGY  345 

action  of  decomposing  organic  matter,  and  the  potash- 
bearing  mineral  of  the  greensand,  namely,  glauconite,  was 
deposited  in  the  interiors  of  the  minute  tests  of  forami- 
nifera.  The  importance  of  this  material  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  the  greensands  of  New  Jersey  have  been  actively 
worked  for  more  than  half  a  century,  the  annual  products 
during  many  years  being  upward  of  100,000  tons. 

Extensive  areas  in  the  Carolinas,  Florida,  etc.,  under- 
laid by  rocks  of  Cenozoic  age,  are  rich  in  phosphatic 
nodules,  which  have  been  derived  from  organic  matter. 
The  guano  deposits  of  the  low  arid  islands  in  the  West 
Indies  illustrate  another  mode  of  accumulation  of  organic 
material  useful  as  a  fertilizer. 

The  assorting  of  surface  debris  by  streams  and  cur- 
rents has  led  to  the  formation  of  extensive  deposits  of  clay 
which  occur  widely  throughout  the  portions  of  North 
America  where  the  surface  is  composed  of  stratified  rock, 
which  is  extensively  used  in  the  manufacture  of  earthen- 
ware, bricks,  tiles,  terra-cotta,  Portland  cement,  etc. 

When  rocks  containing  gold  in  nuggets,  grains,  scales, 
etc.,  are  disintegrated,  and  the  resulting  debris  removed 
by  streams,  mechanical  separation  of  the  heavier  from  the 
lighter  material  takes  place  and  all  but  the  very  finest  of 
the  gold  is  concentrated  on  the  stream  beds.  In  this  man- 
ner the  rich  placers  of  the  Pacific  mountain  region  from 
California  to  Alaska  have  originated. 

The  general  nature  of  the  ore  bodies  formed  through 
the  action  of  chemical  agencies  in  sedimentary  rocks,  by 
solution  and  redeposition.  is  illustrated  by  the  lead  and 
zinc  ores  of  Wisconsin.  Missouri,  the  silver-bearing  lodes 
of  the  Pacific  mountains,  etc.  In  the  case  of  the  lead 
and  zinc  deposits  the  ores  occupy  the  interspaces  between 
broken  sedimentary  beds  or  line  caverns.  Under  the  best 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  these  deposits  thai  has  been 
offered,  although  certain  modifications  <>f  the  general  hy- 
pothesis have  been  suggested  which  it  is  nol  necessary 
to  consider  at  length  at  this  time,  the  lead  and  zinc  are 
considered  to  have  been  at  one  time  widdv  distributed 
in  the  adjacent  sedimentary  rocks,  mainly  limestone,  ami 


346  NORTH    AMERICA 

to  have  been  taken  in  solution  by  percolating  waters  and 
carried  to  cavities  where  they  were  precipitated,  together 
with  various  other  mineral  substances,  such  as  calcium 
carbonate  or  calcite,  barium  sulphate  or  barite,  carbonate 
of  calcium  and  magnesium  or  dolomite,  etc.  The  miner- 
als containing  lead  are  principally  galenite  or  lead  sul- 
phate, cerussite  or  lead  carbonate;  while  the  zinc  is  con- 
tained in  the  minerals,  sphalerite  or  zinc  sulphide,  cala- 
mine or  zinc  silicate,  smithsonite  or  zinc  carbonate,  etc. 
These  minerals,  including  both  those  containing  lead  and 
zinc,  and  those  intimately  associated  with  them  which  are 
at  present  of  no  commercial  value,  are  such  as  are  known 
to  crystallize  from  solution  without  the  aid  of  high  tem- 
peratures. In  the  Missouri  lead  and  zinc  districts  the  ore 
deposits  occur  near  the  surface,  the  depth  of  the  present 
working  seldom  exceeding  150  or  200  feet,  and,  as  nearly 
as  can  be  judged,  have  been  formed  by  the  downward 
transfer  of  mineral  matter  through  the  process  of  solu- 
tion and  recrystallization,  as  the  surface  of  the  land  has 
been  lowered  by  chemical  and  mechanical  denudation. 

Many  of  the  rich  silver-mines  of  the  Pacific  mountains 
occur  in  fissures  and  cavities  in  sedimentary  rocks,  mainly 
limestone.  Instances  of  this  nature  are  furnished  by  cer- 
tain mines  in  northeastern  Mexico,  where  the  ore  is  found 
in  cavities  in  Cretaceous  limestone;  at  Leadville  and  As- 
pen, Colorado ;  Big  and  Little  Cottonwood  canons,  and  the 
Horn  silver-mine,  Utah,  where  the  principal  country  rock 
is  Carboniferous  limestone;  the  Eureka  district,  Nevada, 
where  the  ore  occurs  in  cavities  in  Cambrian  limestone. 
In  the  case  of  several  of  these  mines,  igneous  rock  is  near 
at  hand,  and  the  ores  are  believed  to  owe  their  concen- 
tration largely  to  the  action  of  heated  waters. 

In  other  regions  deep  fissures,  occupied  in  part  by 
dikes  of  igneous  rock,  have  permitted  of  the  ascent  of 
water  charged  with  mineral  matter  from  far  below  the 
surface;  such  waters  are  heated,  in  part  by  the  general 
heat  of  the  earth's  interior,  or,  if  in  association  with  dikes, 
by  the  heat  of  the  once  molten  intruded  rock.  The 
ascending  hot  water  is  an  active  solvent,  and  as  it  rises 


GEOLOGY  347 

becomes  cooled,  and  for  this  and  other  reasons  precipi- 
tates many  mineral  substances.  Veins  are  thus  formed, 
which  are  many  times  banded — that  is,  result  from  the 
filling  of  fissures  by  the  successive  deposition  of  minerals 
of  various  kinds  on  their  walls,  each  different  layer  of  miner- 
als indicating  a  change  in  conditions.  Fissures  filled  in  this 
manner  from  below,  as  denudation  progresses,  become 
exposed  at  the  surface  and  reconcentration  through  the 
influence  of  disintegration  and  decay,  and  of  solution  and 
redeposition  by  descending  water  takes  place.  Ore  bodies  of 
this  character  carrying  gold,  silver,  mercury,  etc.,  are  of  wide 
occurrence,  especially  in  the  Pacific  mountains,  but  the  proc- 
ess of  concentration  is  independent  of  the  nature  of  the 
country  rock.  Segregated  and  fissure  veins  occur  in  either 
igneous,  sedimentary,  or  metamorphic  terranes,  but  are  more 
commonly  of  economic  importance  in  the  metamorphic 
rocks  than  elsewhere,  and  will  be  referred  to  again  in  that 
connection. 

Economic  Importance  of  the  Metamorphic  Terranes. — 
The  great  laboratory  in  which  rocks  undergo  important 
changes  in  their  physical  condition  and  in  mineralogical 
and  chemical  composition,  is  what  has  been  termed  on  a 
previous  page  the  zone  of  metamorphism.  The  depth  of 
the  upper  limit  of  this  zone  is  variable,  dependent  in  part 
on  the  nature  of  the  rocks  and  on  movements  within  them, 
as  is  the  case  of  mountain  building.  In  fact,  there  is  prob- 
ably  no  well-defined  limit  to  the  zone  either  above  or 
below,  as  in  the  former  direction  metamorphism  merges 
by  gradations  into  alteration  produced  by  the  descent  of 
surface  water,  and  in  the  latter  direction  as  heat  increases 
passes  again,  as  we  imagine,  by  insensible  and  irregular 
gradation,  into  a  region  where  the  rocks  are  so  highly 
heated  that  diffusion  rather  than  concentration  results. 
Whether  the  rocks  below  the  /one  of  metamorphism  are 
fused  or  not  depends  on  pressure.  They  are  probably  -olid. 
but  in  a  potentially  plastic  condition,  and  become  fused 
and  may  he  forced  upward  through  fissures  in  tin-  condi- 
tion of  igneous  magmas  when  pressure  is  relieved,  rhe 
zone  of  metamorphism  lies  between  a  superior  /one  where 


348  NORTH    AMERICA 

alteration  by  descending  water  is  dominant,  and  a  lower 
region  where  alteration  due  mainly  to  heat  is  in  control. 
In  the  zone  of  metamorphism  the  influence  of  heated  per- 
colating waters,  combined  with  movements  in  the  rocks, 
are  the  principal  factors  which  lead  to  the  concentration 
of  mineral  substances. 

Under  the  influence  of  percolating,  heated  waters,  new 
minerals  are  formed  in  sedimentary  or  igneous  rocks, 
and  rocks  once  metamorphosed  may  undergo  additional 
changes.  Mineral  matter  previously  widely  disseminated 
through  rocks  is,  under  the  action  of  percolating,  heated 
water,  brought  together  and  the  regeneration  and  crystalli- 
zation of  a  large  variety  of  ores  and  minerals  result.  The 
birthplace  of  a  large  variety  of  ores  and  minerals  is  in  the 
zone  of  metamorphism.  It  is  in  metamorphic  rocks  that  the 
geologist  looks  for  gems,  the  precious  metals,  crystalline 
marble,  magnetic  iron,  etc. 

For  the  most  part,  however,  the  native  metals  and 
ores  of  the  precious  and  many  of  the  common  metals  are 
too  widely  disseminated  in  the  metamorphic  rocks  to  be 
of  commercial  importance,  and  a  still  further  concentra- 
tion, principally  in  fissures  and  other  cavities,  is  necessary 
before  they  can  be  of  value  to  man.  This  secondary  con- 
centration is  much  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  deposi- 
tion of  lead  and  zinc  ores  in  cavities  in  sedimentary  rocks, 
and  results  largely  from  the  solution  and  redeposition, 
sometimes  by  replacement,  of  mineral  matter  by  heated 
waters. 

Certain  ores  and  rocks  contained  in  metamorphic  ter- 
ranes  owe  their  concentration  to  previously  acting  proc- 
esses of  concentration,  but  have  undergone  chemical 
changes  in  place.  Illustrations  of  this  class  of  ores,  etc., 
are  furnished  by  the  magnetite  and  hematite  contained  in 
the  metamorphic  rocks  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Ap- 
palachians, in  Xew  England,  eastern  Canada,  and  the  Lake 
Superior  region.  These  ore  bodies,  frequently  of  great 
size,  in  some  instances  furnish  evidence  of  having  been 
originally  lenticular  masses  of  bog-iron  ore,  or  ferric  car- 
bonate, associated  with  sedimentary  beds,  and  originally 


GEOLOGY  349 

concentrated,  as  already  mentioned,  at  the  surface  through 
the  action  of  water  charged  with  carbon  dioxide,  but  prin- 
cipally on  account  of  the  influence  of  heat  have  been 
changed  to  a  higher  degree  of  oxidation  and  now  ap- 
pear as  hematite,  as,  for  example,  in  the  iron  districts  of 
the  northern  portions  of  Michigan,  Minnesota,  \\  iscon- 
sin.  and  the  Ozark  Hills,  or  still  further  altered  as  in  the 
richest  of  all  iron  ores,  magnetite,  so  abundant  in  the 
metamorphic  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  region,  about  the 
Adirondack  hills,  widely  and  in  extensive  bodies  in  east- 
ern Canada,  about  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  in 
Texas,  etc. 

In  certain  instances,  as  has  been  shown  by  C.  R.  Van 
Hise  and  others,  hematite  ore,  like  that  of  the  Lake  Supe- 
rior region,  has  resulted  from  the  alteration  of  ferrous  car- 
bonate which  had  replaced  limestone  by  a  chemical  proc- 
ess of  solution  and  double  decomposition. 

As  bodies  of  iron  ore  in  the  form  of  the  carbonate,  or 
limonite.  may  occur  in  rocks  of  any  age,  and  as  rocks  of 
any  age  may  be  metamorphosed,  it  follows  that  hematite 
and  magnetite  may  be  present  in  any  formation  which  has 
been  subjected  to  metamorphosing  conditions. 

Limestone  when  metamorphosed  is  changed  to  a  crys- 
talline marble,  frequently  white  in  colour  owing  to  the 
dissipation  of  its  previously  contained  organic  matter. 
The  white  marbles  so  extensively  utilized  in  Georgia,  Ver- 
mont, etc.,  are  of  this  nature.  Other  similar  metamor- 
phosed layers  occur  in  several  of  the  ranges  of  the  Pacific 
mountains  from   Mexico  to  Alaska. 

The  influence  of  metamorphism  on  deposits  of  coal 
when  the  heat  has  been  of  moderate  intensity  serves  to 
drive  off  a  large  part  of  the  volatile  matter  present  and 
converts  the  coal  into  a  substance  resembling  coke,  as  has 
happened  adjacent  to  dikes  or  intruded  sheets  of  igneous 
rock  in  the  Richmond  coal-field.  Virginia,  in  New  Mexico, 
Washington,  etc.  When  the  heat  is  somewhal  more 
intense,  the  coal  is  changed  to  what  is  termed  graphitic 
anthracite,  as  in  the  Rhode  Island  coal-fields,  and  when 
still  greater  or  long  continued,  results  in  the  production  oi 


350  NORTH    AMERICA 

graphite,  as  in  the  Algonkian  rocks  about  the  Adirondack 
hills  and  over  a  wide  region  in  eastern  Canada. 

An  important  result  of  metamorphism  is  the  produc- 
tion of  new  minerals  in  the  rocks  acted  on.  Many  of  the 
metamorphic  terranes  consist  essentially  of  quartz,  feld- 
spar, and  mica,  which  have  been  formed  by  the  rearrange- 
ment of  the  mineral  matter  contained  in  the  rocks  during 
their  previous  state.  Besides  these  constituent  minerals 
there  are  frequently  others  present,  such  as  the  garnets, 
tourmaline,  emerald,  sapphire,  corundum,  etc.,  which  are 
of  economic  importance.  In  a  large  number  of  instances 
the  minerals  of  metamorphic  rocks  are  contained  in  veins 
of  one  class  or  another,  in  part  resulting  from  segrega- 
tion in  the  rocks  themselves  while  yet  in  a  heated  condi- 
tion, and  in  part  deposited  in  fissures  or  other  openings 
as  a  result  of  secondary  concentration  through  the  action 
of  heated  waters.  The  principal  difference  between  the 
minerals  concentrated  in  the  metamorphic  rocks  and  those 
deposited  in  cavities  in  unaltered  sedimentary  beds  seems 
to  be  that  in  the  former  instance  the  percolating  water 
which  carried  the  material  in  solution  had  a  higher  temper- 
ature than  in  the  latter  case. 

Among  the  numerous  mineral  substances  of  value  in 
the  arts,  occurring  in  the  metamorphic  terranes  of  North 
America,  other  than  building  stones  and  the  previously 
concentrated  deposits,  such  as  iron  ore,  graphite,  etc., 
mention  can  only  be  made  at  present  of  the  following: 

Mica,  which  is  used  in  thin  sheets  for  the  windows  of 
stoves  and  furnaces,  and  when  ground  and  mingled  with 
other  substances  furnishes  a  good  insulating  material  for 
electric  wires,  fireproofing,  and  also  used  as  a  lubricant, 
etc.,  occurs  in  large  quantities  in  the  metamorphic  rocks 
of  New  Hampshire  and  Ottawa,  and  less  abundantly  in 
North  Carolina,  South  Dakota,  Wyoming,  Idaho,  etc.  It 
is  widely  distributed,  but  to  find  transparent  colourless 
sheets  of  large  size  is  difficult. 

Talc  and  soapstone,  consisting  of  the  hydrated  silicate 
of  magnesia,  and  useful  for  hearths,  mantels,  fire-brick, 
linings  for  stoves,  laundry-,  bath-,  and  acid-tubs,  etc.,  and 


GEOLOGY  35i 

when  ground,  employed  as  an  adulterant  of  soap,  paper, 
rubber,  and  as  a  lubricant,  etc.,  occurs  widely  in  the  meta- 
morphic  terranes  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Appalachians,  in 
Canada,  and  at  numerous  localities  in  the  Pacific  mountains. 
The  chief  centres  of  production  at  present  are  in  Penn- 
sylvania. New  Jersey,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont. 

Asbestos,  valuable  on  account  of  its  fibrous  structure  and 
non-conductivity  of  heat,  which  make  it  an  excellent  insu- 
lator, and  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  fireproof  paper, 
cloth,  etc.,  occurs  in  connection  with  serpentine,  in  metamor- 
phic  terranes,  and  is  extensively  mined  in  the  Thetford 
district,  Quebec. 

Corundum,  consisting  of  aluminum  oxide,  and  having 
essentially  the  same  composition  as  the  sapphire  and  ruby, 
and  a  less  pure  variety  of  similar  composition  termed 
emerv.  is  largely  used  as  an  abrasive  in  polishing  metal, 
sharpening  tools,  etc.,  and  also  as  "  sand-paper"  in  work- 
ing wood,  occurs  in  commercial  quantities,  largely  in 
crystalline  limestone,  at  Chester,  Mass.,  in  Georgia.  North 
Carolina,  and  several  other  localities.  Although  corun- 
dum is  next  to  the  diamond  in  hardness,  and  therefore 
highly  favourable,  when  reduced  to  a  powder,  for  polish- 
ing various  substances,  the  demand  for  it  has  in  recent  years 
been  diminished  owing  to  the  manufacture  of  an  equally  if 
not  superior  material  termed  commercially  carborundum. 

Among  the  crystals  used  as  gems,  which  occur  in  the 
metamorphic  rocks  of  North  America  but  thus  far  in 
minor  quantities,  and  as  a  rule  of  inferior  quality,  may 
be  enumerated  sapphires,  rubies,  tourmalines,  garnets, 
quartz,  etc. 

Apatite,  a  mineral  rich  in  phosphoric  acid,  and  largely 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  fertilizers,  occurs  associated 
with  limestone  in  the  metamorphic  rocks  of  Quebec  and 
Ontario  in  the  form  of  veins,  beds,  and  irregular  pockets, 
and  a  few  years  since  was  extensively  mined,  but  now, 
owing  to  foreign  competition,  is  held  in  reserve. 

By  far  the  mosl  valuable  of  the  minerals  and  native 
metal-  thai  occur  in  the  metamorphosed  terranes  is  gold. 
Although  this  metal  lias  been  found  in  paying  quantities 


352  NORTH    AMERICA 

in  association  with  nearly  every  kind  of  country  rocks  and 
in  terranes  of  all  ages,  the  place  of  its  original  concen- 
tration from  a  previously  widely  disseminated  condition 
is  to  a  great  extent  in  the  zone  of  metamorphism.  It 
occurs  principally  as  native  gold,  although  usually  alloyed 
with  silver,  but  is  frequently  contained  in  iron  pyrites.  In 
the  crystalline  rocks,  such  as  gneiss,  schist,  slates,  granite, 
etc.,  it  occurs  in  flakes  and  grains,  but  so  far  as  its  occur- 
rence in  commercial  quantities  is  concerned  its  deposition 
has  for  the  most  part  been  secondary,  and  the  metal,  usu- 
ally in  association  with  quartz,  is  found  in  veins,  lodes, 
contact  deposits,  etc.,  and  owes  its  concentration  to  chem- 
ical agencies  not  well  understood,  acting  in  connection 
with  percolating  water.  That  this  general  statement  is 
correct  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  that  gold  occurs  in 
crystals,  flakes,  grains,  etc.,  most  frequently  in  quartz  and 
iron  pyrites,  which,  as  can  be  shown  in  a  number  of  ways, 
have  crystallized  from  solution.  The  gold  and  its  com- 
monly associated  mineral  in  countless  instances  occupy 
fissures  and  must  have  been  carried  to  such  localities 
after  the  surrounding  rock  had  been  fractured.  So  inti- 
mate is  the  association  of  gold  with  metamorphic  rocks 
that  this  is  one  of  the  main  guides  in  searching  for  it, 
although,  as  already  stated,  it  is  frequently  present  in  other 
rocks  as  well.  With  the  disintegration  of  the  metamorphic 
terranes  the  gold  is  set  free,  and  may  be  still  further  concen- 
trated by  streams  so  as  to  form  the  well-known  placers. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  both  the  quartz  and  placer 
mining  of  North  America  is  in  regions  occupied  by  meta- 
morphic rock.  This  is  true  of  all  gold-mines,  previously 
quite  largely  exploited,  of  the  Atlantic  mountain  region 
from  Georgia  to  eastern  Canada.  The  mines  of  California 
are  also  largely  in  schistose  rocks,  as  are  also  those  to  the 
northward,  throughout  the  Pacific  mountains,  to  British 
Columbia  and  Alaska,  including  the  recently  established 
mining  district  at  Cape  Nome. 

With  placer  gold,  and  probably  derived  largely,  if  not 
entirely,  from  metamorphic  rocks,  there  are  frequently 
found  grains  of  platinum.     The  annual  production  of  this 


GEOLOGY  353 

metal   in  the  United  States  and   Canada  has  a  value   of 
about  $5,000. 

The  study  of  the  distribution  of  native  metals  and  ores 
in  the  metamorphic  rocks  of  North  America  indicates  that 
in  general  the  older  rocks,  as  the  Archean,  for  example, 
are  less  rich  than  the  younger  terranes,  such  as  the  schist, 
etc.,  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascade  Mountains.     This 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  older  rocks  were  once  deeply 
buried   and   their   more    soluble    substances    removed    by 
ascending  waters,  and  in  part  redeposited  in  higher  ter- 
ranes.    Erosion  has  since  carried  off  the  rocks  which  were 
mineral-charged  and  laid  bare  the  depleted  terranes  be- 
neath.    This  hypothetical  explanation  of  the  general  pov- 
erty of  the  Archean  rocks  is  coupled  with  another  consid- 
eration, namely,  that  the  younger  metamorphic  terranes, 
where  they  have  been  elevated,  as  in  the  Pacific  moun- 
tains,   are    more    broken    than    the    Archean    rocks,    and 
afford  more  cavities  in  which  minerals  may  be  deposited. 
Whether  this  is  a  complete  explanation  or  not  remains 
to  be  demonstrated,  but  observation  shows  that  the  Archean 
terranes — all  of  which  as  yet  discovered  are  composed  of 
either  metamorphosed  or  igneous  rocks — are,  in  comparison 
with  younger  metamorphosed  rocks,  relatively  poor  in  min- 
erals and  ores  of  commercial  importance. 

Among  the  economic  products  of  the  rocks  are  in- 
cluded mineral  waters.  The  direct  commercial  value  of 
such  waters,  not  including  their  use  for  baths,  etc.,  in  the 
United  States,  is  about  $7,000,000  annually.  The  demand 
for  these  waters  depends  largely  on  the  mineral  sub- 
stances they  hold  in  solution,  and  which  in  many  instances 
is  in  process  of  transference  from  one  locality  to  another. 
Much  might  be  written  in  this  connection  in  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  the  processes  by  which  minerals,  ores,  etc.. 
have  been  concentrated  arc  still   in   progress. 

LITERATURE 

An  extensive  literature  is  available  concerning  the  geol- 
ogy, minerals,  ore-,  etc.  of  North  America,  but  only  a 
few  of  the  more  important  publications  can  here  be  referred 


354  NORTH    AMERICA 

to.  The  numerous  publications  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada,  and  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Mexico  contain  vast  amounts,  of 
valuable  information.  Several  of  the  States  of  the  United 
States  have  independent  surveys  and  have  published  nu- 
merous reports.  Of  journals  containing  articles  of  Amer- 
ican geology,  the  more  important  are:  The  Journal  of 
Geology,  published  at  the  University  of  Chicago;  The 
American  Geologist,  published  at  Minneapolis,  Minn. ;  The 
American  Journal  of  Science,  published  at  New  Haven, 
Conn.  The  publications  of  a  large  number  of  learned 
societies  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  should  also  be 
consulted. 

The   most   useful    bibliographies    of    North    American 
geology  are : 

Darton,  N.  H.  Catalogue  and  Index  of  Contributions  to  North 
American  Geology,  1J32-1891.  Published  as  Bulletin  No.  127  of 
the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C,  1896. 

DOWLIXG,  D.  B.  General  Index  to  the  Reports  of  Progress  [of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Canada],  1863- 1884.  Published  by  the  Cana- 
dian Geological  Survey,  Ottawa,  Canada,  1900. 

Warman,  P.  C.  Catalogue  and  Index  of  the  Publications  of  the  Utiiied 
States  Geological  Survey,  1880  to  1901.  Published  as  Bulletin  No. 
177  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C,  1901. 

Weeks,  F.  B.  Bibliography  of  North  American  Geology,  Paleontol- 
ogy\  Petrology,  and  Mineralogy  for  the  Years  1892-1900,  Inclusive. 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  Bulletins  No.  188  and  189,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  1902. 

Of  the  numerous  general  treatises  on  the  geology,  the 
following  will  be  found  especially  helpful  to  the  student: 

Dana,  J.  D.  Manual  of  Geology.  Fourth  edition.  American  Book 
Company,  New  York,  1895. 

Kemp,  J.  F.  The  Ore  Deposits  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Sci- 
entific Publishing  Company,  New  York,  1900. 

Le  Conte,  J.  Elements  of  Geology.  Fifth  edition,  revised  and  partly 
rewritten  by  Prof.  H.  L.  Fairchild.  D.  Appleton  and  Company.  New 
York,  1903. 

Merrill,  G.  P.  A  Treatise  on  Rocks,  Rock- Weathering,  and  Soils. 
The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York,  1897. 

Shaler,  N.  S.  Outlines  of  the  Earth's  History.  D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  New  York,  1898. 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE    ABORIGINES 

At  the  time  the  Western  Hemisphere  became  known  to 
Europeans,  as  has  been  shown  by  subsequent  explorations, 
it  was  inhabited  by  native  tribes  from  .the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  and  from  the  extreme  north  to  Patagonia.  The  abo- 
rigines were  distributed  principally  along  the  coast,  about 
the  borders  of  lakes,  and  on  the  margins  of  streams,  but 
much  of  the  interior  was  also  inhabited  or  roamed  over  by 
hunting  and  war  parties,  or  crossed  by  various  tribes  during 
their  migrations.  Large  areas,  it  is  true,  more  especially 
among  the  rugged  mountains,  in  the  great  subarctic  forest, 
and  on  the  trackless  tundras,  had  no  permanent  residents, 
but  in  general  terms  the  entire  land  was  inhabited. 

In  spite  of  the  reports  as  to  the  density  of  the  aboriginal 
population  made  by  several  early  explorers,  who  for  the  most 
part  followed  the  waterways,  visited  the  most  thickly  inhab- 
ited regions,  and  saw  the  natives  when  brought  together  by 
motives  of  curiosity  or  defence,  it  is  now  known  that  North 
America,  considering  its  vast  extent,  was  but  sparsely  peo- 
pled. As  to  the  number  of  the  inhabitants,  there  is  no  even 
approximately  accurate  knowledge.  The  greatest  density  oi 
population,  so  far  as  can  be  judged,  was  in  the  tropical  re- 
gion, and  decreased  northward  in  a  general  way  in  conform- 
ity with  change  in  latitude,  but  varied  also  in  a  conspicuous 
manner  in  accord  with  local  climatic  and  topographic  in- 
fluences. 

In  the  same  manner  as  the  exploration  of  the  New  World 
led  to  the  discovery  of  many  species,  genera,  etc.  of  plants 
and  animals,  it  also  added  two  types  of  man  to  those  pre- 
viously known  to  Europeans.  The  propriety  of  separating 
the  American  aborigines  into  two  groups  of  tribes  is  based 

355 


356  NORTH    AMERICA 

on  the  contrasts  the  members  of  these  divisions  present  not 
only  in  colour  and  other  physiological  characteristics,  but  on 
well-marked  differences  in  language,  customs,  arts,  etc.  On 
this  basis  two  varieties  of  the  human  species  have  been  rec- 
ognised, namely,  the  Eskimo  and  the  Indian. 

The  term  Eskimo,  formerly  spelled  Esquimau,  is  of  ob- 
scure origin,  but  is  thought  to  have  been  adopted  by  Euro- 
peans from  the  Indians  of  Labrador,  who  thus  designated 
a  northern  people  living  on  the  coast,  and  is  said  to  mean 
"  raw-flesh  eaters."  The  word  in  use  among  the  Eskimos 
to  designate  themselves  is  Innuit,  meaning  people,  or  the 
people,  in  the  sense  that  in  their  own  estimation  they  are 
of  more  importance  than  all  other  peoples. 

The  term  Indian,  as  is  well  known,  arose  from  an  error 
of  the  early  Spanish  voyagers,  who,  on  arriving  in  America, 
believed  they  had  reached  India,  and  hence  termed  the  na- 
tives of  the  new  land  Indians.  This  mistake  has  led  to  many 
attempts  to  substitute  some  other  word  by  which  to  designate 
the  people  referred  to,  but  thus  far  none  of  the  terms  pro- 
posed has  been  generally  accepted.  In  the  present  book  the 
word  Indian  is  used  to  designate  the  aborigines  of  the  New 
World,  exclusive  of  the  Eskimos. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  the  Eskimos  and  Indi- 
ans is  sharply  defined  even  at  the  present  day,  and  is  indi- 
cated on  the  map  forming  Plate  VI. 

Origin  of  the  Aborigines. — The  generally  accepted  con- 
clusion in  reference  to  the  origin  of  the  American  aborigines 
seems  to  be  that  man  reached  this  continent  while  the  peoples 
of  the  Old  World  were  yet  in  a  primitive  condition,  and  at 
a  time  when  the  highest  stage  of  culture  was  expressed  by 
the  knife  and  spear-point  of  chipped  stone,  and  developed 
independently  in  accord  with  the  natural  conditions  with 
which  he  was  surrounded.  More  than  this,  once  planted,  the 
original  stock  received  but  slight  if  any  accessions  by  subse- 
quent immigration.  This  last  statement  is  not  in  strict  ac- 
cord with  the  conclusions  reached  by  certain  ethnologists, 
who  claim  that  the  use  of  masks,  the  art  of  carving  on  wrood, 
stone,  ivory,  etc.,  the  practise  of  tattooing,  the  preservation 
of  human  heads,  and  other  customs  practised  by  the  Indians 


THE    ABORIGINES  357 

of  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  two  Americas — and  in  North 
America,  extending  eastward  along  lines  of  easiest  commu- 
nication— suggest  an  influence  coming  from  Polynesia  at  a 
time  when  the  peoples  dwelling  on  the  west  borders  of  the 
Pacific  had  made  a  well-marked  advance  in  culture.  Some 
influences  on  the  aborigines  of  America  coming  both  from 
Polynesia  and  eastern  Asia  must  seemingly  be  admitted,  the 
importations  having  been  by  means  of  storm-  and  current- 
swept  boats  and  junks,  but  the  evidence  does  not  point  to 
trade  relations.  The  most  that  can  be  claimed  seems  to  be 
slight  modifications  of  the  arts  and  customs  of  the  Ameri- 
can aborigines,  but  not  enough  to  make  what  may  be  termed 
an  indelible  impression  upon  them. 

The  low  state  of  culture  of  the  original  stock  from  which 
the  American  aborigines  were  derived,  implied  in  their  dis- 
tinct subsequent  development  in  language,  arts,  etc.,  indi- 
cates that  man  appeared  in  America  previous  to  the  inven- 
tion of  boats  capable  of  crossing  broad  oceans.  The  neces- 
sary inference  from  this — if  the  hypothesis  of  one  place  of 
origin  for  the  human  race  is  accepted — is  that  migration  to 
America  was  by  land,  or  at  most  across  narrow  straits.  The 
geography  of  the  continents  must  have  been  markedly  differ- 
ent from  what  it  is  at  present  to  admit  of  this,  providing  the 
proof  that  access  was  not  gained  where  Asia  and  America 
make  a  near  approach  to  each  other  at  Bering  Strait  is  con- 
clusive, and  at  present  that  evidence  seems  unquestionable. 

The  present  state  of  opinion  in  reference  to  the  origin  of 
the  American  aborigines  is  thus  expressed  by  one  well  quali- 
fied to  speak  with  authi  trity.  At  the  close  of  a  review  of  sev- 
eral line-  of  evidence  J.  W.  Powell  says: 

"  Thus  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  occupancy  of 
America  by  mankind  was  anterior  to  the  development  of  arts. 
Industrie*,  institutions,  languages,  and  opinions;  that  the 
primordial  occupancy  of  the  continent  antedates  presenl 
geographical  conditions,  and  points  to  a  remote  time  which 
can  be  discovered  only  on  geological  and  biological  inves- 
tigation." 

Antiquity  of  the  Aborigines. — The  conclusions  to  be 
drawn  from  the  studies  of  ethnologists  in  reference  to  the 

21 


35$  NORTH    AMERICA 

length  of  time  man  has  made  his  home  in  America  are  qual- 
itative, not  quantitative.  The  time  is  certainly  long,  prob- 
ably embracing  tens  of  centuries ;  but  how  long  no  one  can 
state  in  years.  This  claim  for  a  great  although  indefinite 
antiquity  is  based  on  several  lines  of  evidence,  some  few  of 
which  the  reader  may  find  it  profitable  to  briefly  consider. 

A  comparison  of  physiological  characteristics  shows  that 
the  American  aborigines  have  well-marked  differences  from 
all  other  varieties  of  the  human  race.  This  conclusion  is 
not  based  on  any  one  special  feature,  although  colour  and 
character  of  the  hair  are  the  most  conspicuous,  but  on  the 
resultant,  so  to  speak,  of  many  attributes.  It  is,  in  a  measure, 
a  comparison  of  ideal  type-examples  of  each  variety.  While 
each  characteristic  that  may  be  chosen  has  individual  and 
tribal  variations,  and  but  few  of  them  are  perhaps  conspicu- 
ously different  from  those  pertaining  to  the  peoples  of  the 
Old  World,  yet  taken  together  they  clearly  differentiate  the 
American  aborigines  from  all  other  varieties  of  the  human 
species. 

Applying  the  same  principles  to  man  that  are  used  in  the 
study  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  lower  animals, 
the  only  legitimate  conclusion  the  naturalist  can  deduce  from 
the  evidence  just  referred  to  is  that  the  branch  of  the  human 
family  indigenous  to  North  America  has  been  isolated  for  a 
sufficient  length  of  time  to  develop  into  a  new  variety.  The 
American  aborigines  are  different  from  all  other  varieties 
of  the  human  species  because  each  more  or  less  isolated 
community  or  group  of  communities  the  world  over  has 
varied  in  its  own  way  in  accord  with  climatic  and  other 
conditions,  and  the  connecting  links  have  been  lost.  The 
differences  that  have  arisen  in  this  manner  are  so  great  that 
the  nature  of  the  parent  stock  is  no  longer  determinable 
from  its  living  representatives.  This  process  of  development 
among  the  lower  animals  is  understood  to  involve  a  great 
length  of  time ;  and  the  inference  is  that  man's  development 
is  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

The  evidence  favouring  a  great  antiquity  for  the  Amer- 
ican aborigines  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  when  first 
known  to  Europeans  both  North  and  South  America  were 


THE    ABORIGINES  359 

inhabited  by  tribes  having  more  or  less  well-defined  terri- 
torial limits.  If  this  population  spread  from  one  or  even  from 
several  centres  it  is  evident  that  a  great  length  of  time  would 
be  required  for  it  to  reach  all  parts  of  the  New  World  and 
to  become  adjusted  to  a  wide  range  in  climatic  and  other 
conditions,  as  is  known  to  be  the  case. 

Students  of  languages  have  shown  that  the  most  endur- 
ing characteristics  of  man  are  to  be  found  in  his  speech.  The 
fundamental  principles  of  a  language  outlive  not  only  polit- 
ical and  social  changes,  but  even  physiological  distinctions, 
and  are  inherited  from  a  primitive  stock  by  all  its  branches. 
We  might  reasonably  expect,  therefore,  that  a  study  of  the 
languages  spoken  in  America  in  pre-Columbian  days  would 
be  a  sure  index  as  to  the  primitive  stock  from  which  the 
various  tribes  came,  and  show  to  which  of  the  many  other 
branches  of  the  linguistic  tree  they  are  most  closely  related. 
Turning  with  this  question  to  those  who  have  made  a  critical 
study  of  the  languages  of  the  American  aborigines,  and  no 
one  is  better  qualified  to  bear  testimony  in  this  connection 
than  J.  W.  Powell,  the  honoured  director  of  the  American 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  we  find  a  definite  answer.    He  says : 

"  The  North  American  Indian  tribes,  instead  of  speak- 
ing related  dialects,  originating  in  a  single  parent  language, 
in  reality  speak  many  languages,  belonging  to  distinct  fami- 
lies, which  have  no  apparent  unity  of  origin." 

To  the  north  of  Mexico  (Plate  VI)  the  aborigines  are 
divided  into  58  linguistic  families.  In  a  large  portion  of 
these  languages  there  are  tribal  dialects  not  understood  by 
members  of  other  tribes  of  the  same  family.  Thus  the  Al- 
gonquin linguistic  family  contains  some  30  or  40  distinct  lan- 
guages. In  the  Athapascan  the  diversity  is  nearly  as  great. 
The  smaller  families  present  similar  conditions  in  propor- 
tionate degree,  although  there  are  stocks  which  speak  but 
one  language.  hour  of  the  linguistic  families  referred  to 
extend  into  Mexico,  but  to  the  south  of  the  territory  occu- 
pied by  them  other  languages  and  dialects  are  spoken.  Eth- 
nologists who  have  studied  the  tribes  of   Mexico  report    l<> 

linguistic  stocks,  containing  [08  distinct  languages,  among 

which  there  are  upward  of  60  dialects.     In  (  cntral  America 


0 


6o  NORTH    AMERICA 


a  similar  diversity  in  the  native  tongues  exists.  Reclus,  in 
his  great  work  The  Earth  and  its  Inhabitants,  states  that 
in  the  New  World  450  native  languages  are  spoken — a  num- 
ber greater  than  that  of  all  the  languages  in  use  in  the  rest 
of  the  earth.  Not  only  are  the  American  linguistic  stocks 
different  from  each  other,  and  fail  to  furnish  evidence  of 
having  been  derived  from  a  single  parent  tongue,  but,  as 
philologists  assure  us,  no  one  of  them  is  analogous  to  any 
language  spoken  in  other  lands. 

As  is  well  known,  a  language  is  not  created  de  novo,  but 
by  a  slow  process  of  development.  Since  the  first  acquire- 
ment of  articulate  speech  by  man  a  succession  of  languages 
has  appeared  owing  to  the  growth,  differentiation,  etc.,  of 
pre-existing  forms  of  speech.  It  is  a  warrantable  inference, 
therefore,  that  the  marvellous  diversity  in  speech  present  in 
America  could  only  have  arisen  by  a  process  of  evolution 
involving  a  very  long  period  of  time. 

As  the  American  languages  have  no  affinity  with  the 
Teutonic  or  Semitic  stocks,  it  is  evident  that  the  source  or 
sources  from  which  they  came  far  antedate  the  birth  of  the 
oldest  people  of  which  history  takes  cognizance.  Man  must 
therefore  have  set  foot  on  American  soil  before  the  sprout- 
ing of  the  linguistic  twig  which,  after  millenniums,  produced 
the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  ancient  Persia  and  Assyria. 

The  diversity  of  arts,  customs,  myths,  religions,  etc., 
among  the  American  aborigines,  and  their  difference  in 
nearly  all  instances  from  the  analogous  attributes  of  the 
peoples  of  other  lands,  also  point  to  a  long  period  of  isolated 
development  in  much  the  same  manner  as  has  been  referred 
to  in  the  case  of  a  comparative  study  of  their  languages. 
The  skin  boats  used  by  the  Eskimos  are  widely  different  from 
the  birch-bark  canoes  of  the  Algonquins,  and  these  again 
differ  conspicuously  from  the  dug-out  canoes  of  southeastern 
Alaska  and  British  Columbia ;  still  other  varieties  of  boats  are 
peculiar  to  the  more  southern  Indian  tribes,  and  all  alike  differ 
from  the  boats  used  in  other  lands.  Like  individuality  per- 
tains also  to  the  houses  of  the  American  aborigines,  their 
clothing,  arms,  utensils,  basket-work,  picture-writings,  etc. 
One  is  forced  to  recognise  in  each  of  these  arts  or  industries 


THE    ABORIGINES  361 

not  only  development  in  many  diverging  lines  among  the 
various  tribes,  but  the  birth  of  ideas  analogous  to  those  which 
arose  in  other  lands,  and  their  independent  growth  under 
special  conditions.  All  of  this,  and  much  more  in  the  same 
general  direction  that  might  be  discussed  did  space  permit, 
points  to  a  great  antiquity  for  the  indigenous  American 
peoples. 

Among  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  certain  plants  have 
been  under  domestication  for  so  long  a  time,  and  have  varied 
so  greatly,  that  the  wild  species  from  which  they  came  are  no 
longer  known.  This  is  true  of  nearly  all  our  common  fruits 
and  vegetables  and  many  of  our  flowers  that  were  derived 
from  the  Old  World.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest 
the  aborigines  of  America  were  cultivating  tobacco,  pota- 
toes, beans,  tomatoes,  squashes,  maize,  cotton,  etc.,  and  in  the 
case  of  most  of  these  plants  the  wild  species  from  which  they 
were  derived  has  not  been  ascertained.  The  argument  that 
points  to  a  great  antiquity  in  the  case  of  wheat  and  the  peach 
applies  equally  well  to  tobacco  and  maize,  and  indicates  that 
horticulture  began  in  America  in  remote  antiquity.  At  the 
time  of  Columbus,  the  ox,  sheep,  goat,  pigeons,  fowls,  cat, 
etc.,  long  domesticated  in  the  Old,  were  absent  in  the  Xew 
World,  and  the  llama,  turkey,  etc.,  indigenous  in  America, 
were  unknown  in  Europe.  These  striking  differences,  among 
which  there  is  not  even  a  single  exception,  amount  to  posi- 
tive evidence  that  contact  between  the  peoples  of  the  Old  and 
the  Xew  World  did  not  occur  after  the  inhabitants  of  the 
former  emerged  from  savagery,  or,  what  is  (he  same  thing, 
never  existed  in  the  sense  that  trade  relations  were  entered 
into.  This  same  line  of  argument  seemingly  casts  grave 
doubts  on  the  deductions  already  referred  to  concerning  the 
importation  into  America  from  Polynesia  of  tin-  practise  of 
tattooing,  the  wearing  of  masks,  the  use  of  labrets.  etc. :  and 
indicates  also  that  but  slight  changes  were  produced  in  the 
American  aborigines  owing  to  the  wrecking  of  Asiatic 
junks  on  the  northwesl  coast. 

Another  factor  bearing  on  the  antiquity  of  the  indigenous 
Americans  is  the  stage  of  development  reached  in  spite  oi 
their  long  and  nearly  complete  isolation.     Stimuli  from  u  ith 


0 


62  NORTH    AMERICA 


out,  and  particularly  contact  with  more  advanced  peoples, 
having  been  lacking  or  of  small  importance,  incentive  to 
bodily  and  mental  activity  arose  mainly  from  the  desire  for 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  and  from  intertribal  rivalry,  jeal- 
ousy, and  war.  This  process  of  indigenous  development  was 
certainly  slow.  With  man,  as  with  the  lower  animals,  the 
rate  of  advance  and  of  specialization  increases  as  higher  and 
higher  grades  of  development  are  reached.  For  the  Ameri- 
can aborigines  to  have  attained  the  higher  stages  of  barba- 
rism at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  civilized  Europeans,  solely 
by  self-growth  and  self-education,  is  perhaps  even  a  stronger 
argument  for  their  antiquity  than  their  differentiation  in  cul- 
ture, languages,  etc. 

These  several  lines  of  evidence  point  to  the  coming  of 
man  to  America  as  an  event  of  the  far  distant  past — a  time 
so  remote,  in  fact,  that  it  pertains  to  geology  rather  than  to 
ethnology. 

Turning  to  the  geological  records,  we  find  no  authentic 
and  well-attested  evidence  of  the  presence  of  man  in  Amer- 
ica either  previous  or  during  the  Glacial  period.  From  time 
to  time  so-called  "  finds  "  of  stone  implements  in  gravel  and 
other  deposits  more  or  less  definitely  determined  to  be  of  Gla- 
cial age  have  been  made,  but  in  all  of  these  instances  con- 
vincing proof  as  to  the  age  of  the  deposits,  or  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  implements  in  question,  to  them,  has  not  been 
presented.  Certain  discoveries  of  the  bones  of  men  and  of 
articles  of  human  manufacture  found  in  California  have 
been  claimed  to  be  of  Tertiary  age — that  is,  much  older 
than  the  Glacial  epoch — but  more  critical  studies,  especially 
by  W.  H.  Holmes,  have  shown  that  they  are  decidedly 
modern  and  pertain  to  the  Indians  still  living  in  the  region 
where  they  were  found.  In  brief,  all  the  geological  evi- 
dence thus  far  gathered  bearing  on  the  antiquity  of  man 
in  America  points  to  the  conclusion  that  he  came  after  the 
Glacial  epoch.  Judgment  in  this  respect,  however,  should 
be  held  in  abeyance,  as  the  search  for  evidence  is  as  yet 
incomplete. 

As  the  problem  now  stands,  the  origin  of  the  American 
aborigines  is  not  only  unknown,  but  no  generally  accepted 


THE    ABORIGINES  3^3 

or  fairly  promising  hypothesis  as  to  the  land  from  which  they 
came,  the  route  followed,  or  the  date  of  their  arrival  is  to  be 
found  among  the  large  number  suggested.  A  continuation 
of  the  critical,  ethnological,  and  geological  studies  now  in 
progress,  it  is  hoped,  will  do  much  to  clear  away  this  mystery, 
but  at  present  only  small  progress  can  be  truthfully  reported. 

Culture  of  the  Aborigines. — In  the  classification  of  peo- 
ples in  terms  of  culture  three  main  divisions  are  commonly 
recognised,  namely,  savagery,  barbarism,  and  civilization; 
but  the  boundaries  between  these  divisions  are  not  sharply 
defined  and  a  wide  range  of  intermediate  gradations  is  easily 
discernible. 

By  savagery  is  understood  the  lowest  grade  of  culture 
and  of  ethics,  in  which  social  customs  are  lax  or  wanting  and 
tribal  organization  not  attempted.  In  the  condition  of  sav- 
agery people  are  without  permanent  homes,  do  not  attempt 
agriculture  or  even  horticulture,  have  no  domesticated  ani- 
mals  except  perhaps  the  dog,  and  subsist  on  fish  and  game, 
including  molluscs,  small  mammals,  and  reptiles,  and  such 
seeds,  fruits,  nuts,  etc.,  as  wild  plants  supply.  The  art  of 
kindling  fire  is  probably  known  to  all  existing  savages,  but 
much  of  their  food  is  eaten  uncooked. 

In  the  state  of  barbarism  tribal  organization  may  exist; 
some  form  of  religion  is  usually  recognised;  definite  mar- 
riage relations  are  entered  into,  although  polygamy  is  com- 
monly practised;  permanent  houses,  perhaps  for  winter  use 
only,  are  built;  clothes  are  made  from  woven  cloth  as  well 
as  from  skins;  the  plating  of  baskets  and  the  art  of  making 
coarse  pottery,  frequently  highly  decorated,  are  under- 
stood; essentially  all  utensils,  arms,  etc.,  are  of  stone,  wood, 
bone,  or  ivory,  the  metals  other  than  those  occurring  in  a 
native  state  being  unknown;  and  writing  is  unknown,  al- 
though pictographs  may  be  employed. 

Civilization  implies  a  well-marked  development  in  ethics, 
laws,  social  organization,  institutions,  arts,  writing,  etc. 

Under  tin's  scheme  of  classification  various  divisions  oi 
the  aborigines  of  North  America  al  the  time  of  the  coining 
of  (  blumbus  occupied  each  of  the  planes  of  development  des- 
ignated; but  those  frequently  classed  as  civilized  had  not 


364  NORTH    AMERICA 

arrived  at  an  advanced  stage  of  culture,  and  can  perhaps 
with  greater  propriety  be  designated  as  semicivilized,  or, 
better  still,  be  referred  to  the  highest  stage  of  barbarism. 

Some  of  the  native  tribes,  as  those  of  southern  California 
and  certain  of  the  peoples  of  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
were  in  a  state  of  savagery,  and,  in  fact,  have  not  advanced 
beyond  that  state  at  the  present  day.  A  large  majority 
of  the  aborigines,  as,  for  example,  the  Algonquins.  Shosho- 
neans,  etc.,  or,  in  general,  all  of  the  Indians  to  the  north- 
ward of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  together  with  certain 
of  the  tribes  to  the  south  of  that  boundary,  had  definite  tribal 
organization,  permanent  homes  at  least  for  winter  use,  in 
part  practised  horticulture,  and  for  these  and  other  reasons 
are  to  be  classed  as  in  the  barbarous  stage  of  development. 
The  Aztecs,  Mayas,  etc.,  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  had 
well-established  governments,  built  permanent  and  fre- 
quently large  and  elaborately  decorated  houses,  some  of 
which  were  of  hewn  stone,  practised  horticulture  with  the 
aid  of  irrigation,  had  developed  a  system  of  picture-writing, 
and  were  skilled  in  working  native  metals.  These  and 
other  advances  towards  civilization  were  great  and  promis- 
ing, but  the  use  of  iron  was  unknown,  and  their  practice  of 
human  sacrifice  and  the  absence  of  phonetic  writing  denies 
them  a  place  among  truly  civilized  peoples. 

Another  scheme  for  the  classification  of  peoples  in  terms 
of  the  highest  grade  of  implements  used  by  them  is  current 
under  which  they  are  placed  in  certain  ages  on  the  assump- 
tion that  man  in  all  regions  has  passed  through  an  orderly 
sequence  in  his  development,  and  that  the  successive  changes 
are  expressed  by  the  nature  of  the  material  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  implements.  Under  this  plan  of  classification  we 
have  an  age  of  stone,  an  age  of  bronze,  and  an  age  of  iron. 
The  stone  age  is  commonly  divided  into  two  parts  :  an  earlier 
or  paleolithic,  during  which  the  highest  type  of  implement 
used  is  fashioned  of  stone  by  chipping ;  and  a  later,  or  neo- 
lithic, when  implements  of  stone  are  shaped  by  grinding  and 
polishing.  Following  the  stone  age  came  one  of  bronze, 
when  a  mixture  of  copper  and  tin  was  used  for  implements ; 
and  later  the  age  of  iron,  beginning  when  the  art  of  reducing- 


THE    ABORIGINES  3^5 

metals  from  their  ores  was  discovered.  In  this  scheme  a 
copper  age  is  sometimes  included,  with  doubtful  propriety, 
however,  if,  as  in  America,  the  metal  referred  to  is  obtained 
in  its  native  condition. 

Under  the  somewhat  indefinite  scheme  of  classification 
just  referred  to  the  North  American  aborigines,  inclusive  of 
the  Aztecs,  etc.,  previous  to  the  coming  of  European  civiliza- 
tion were  in  the  stone  age  of  development,  although  bronze 
was  in  use  among  the  Incas  of  Peru,  and  to  some  extent  had 
found  its  way  northward  as  far  as  ■Mexico.  Certain  of  the 
tribes  still  used  implements  of  chipped  stone,  but  in  the  great 
majority  of  instances  implements  of  polished  stone  were  the 
highest  type  known.  Native  copper  was  widely  used  for 
axes,  knives,  ornaments,  etc.,  but  iron,  except  such  as  occurs 
in  meteors,  was  unknown. 

The  difficulty  met  with  in  selecting  any  one  article  or 
any  one  material  used  by  primitive  peoples  as  a  basis  for 
their  classification  is  illustrated  by  the  facts  just  cited,  as  it 
places  the  lowest  savage  of  America  in  the  same  group  as 
the  Aztec  and  the  Maya.  Obviously,  in  the  classification  of 
peoples  as  with  the  lower  animals  all  characteristics  should 
be  included. 

THE      ESKIMOS 

The  extreme  northern  part  of  North  America  is  included 
in  the  circumpolar  lands  described  in  another  volume  of  the 
series  of  which  the  present  book  forms  a  part,  and  the  Es- 
kimos as  a  people  will  therefore  receive  but  passing  atten- 
,  tion  at  this  time. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  to  the  geographer  con- 
cerning the  Eskimos  is  their  peculiar  distribution.  From 
choice  or  necessity  they  make  their  homes  on  the  bleak,  in- 
hospitable northern  border  of  tlie  continent. and  do  not  extend 
inland  except  where  the  const  is  indented  or  large  rivers  enter 
the  sea.  In  all  localities  their  dwellings  are  near  the  water. 
They  are  the  most  northern  people  on  the  earth,  and  then- 
still  greater  northward  extension  is  checked  only  by  the  ab- 
sence of  land  on  which  to  bnild  their  winter  homes.  Then- 
present  inland  limit  on  the  continent  is  no  doubl  determined 


366  NORTH    AMERICA 

in  part  by  long-established  custom  and  by  the  distribution 
of  the  animals  on  which  they  have  become  dependent  for 
food,  clothing,  fuel,  etc.,  but  the  chief  control  formerly, 
no  doubt,  more  potent  than  at  present,  is  to  be  sought  in 
the  aggressiveness  of  the  Indians.  In  Greenland,  the  arc- 
tic archipelago,  and  throughout  the  immense  extent  of 
coast  lands  from  Labrador  to  Alaska  they  have  been  isolated 
and  withdrawn  from  contact  with  other  peoples  for  a  long 
period  of  time,  and  their  slow  development  unmodified  by 
extraneous  influences.  In  Newfoundland  and  Alaska,  how- 
ever, they  have  been  in  contact  with  the  Indians,  trade  re- 
lations established,  and  to  a  limited  extent  an  interchange 
of  ideas  as  well  as  some  intermarriage  has  taken  place. 

Throughout  the  vast  extent  of  arctic  coast  between  New- 
foundland and  Alaska,  as  well  as  in  Greenland  and  on  the 
islands  of  the  arctic  archipelago,  the  Eskimo  was  the  sole 
inhabitant  before  the  coming  of  Europeans,  and  one  lan- 
guage current  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  No  other 
primitive  people  has  such  an  extent  in  longitude.  The 
reason  for  this  peculiarity  is  that  between  the  sea  margin, 
where  the  Eskimo  makes  his  home,  and  the  southern 
border  of  the  subarctic  forest  and  adjacent  prairies,  where 
the  Indians  have  their  hunting-grounds,  there  intervenes 
the  tundra — a  neutral  ground  attractive  neither  to  the 
Eskimo  nor  the  Indian. 

The  one  thing  which  more  than  all  else  has  enabled  the 
Eskimo  to  maintain  an  existence  and  to  thrive  in  the  frozen 
north  is  his  discovery  of  a  means  of  obtaining  heat  and  light 
where  wood  is  scarce — that  is,  the  invention  of  the  lamp. 
This  invention,  as  has  been  shown  by  Walter  Hugh  and 
others,  was  favoured  by  the  occurrence  in  the  far  north  of 
animals  like  the  seal  and  walrus,  which  yield  oil  with  a  high 
heat-giving  property. 

In  Alaska  the  Eskimo  stock  is  broken  into  several  tribes 
speaking  diverse  dialects.  Of  these,  two  main  subgroups  are 
distinguished,  namely,  Innuits  and  Aleuts  or  Aleutians. 
The  former  includes  several  tribes  living  on  the  margin  of 
the  mainland,  from  near  Mount  St.  Elias  northward  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean,  and  the  latter  consists  of  but  two  tribes,  now 


THE    ABORIGINES  367 

intermingled,  which  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Alaskan  region  by  the  Russians  inhabited  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  Alaskan  peninsula  and  the  Aleutian  Islands.  A 
detailed  account  of  these  peoples  should  have  united  with  it 
a  study  of  the  so-called  Tuski  of  northeastern  Siberia,  who 
are  of  the  same  stock,  and,  as  seems  probable,  are  the  descend- 
ants of  Eskimos  who  migrated  from  America  to  Asia. 

The  Innuits. — This  name,  as  is  stated  by  W.  H.  Dall,  is 
applied  to  themselves  by  all  the  tribes  of  the  Eskimo  stock, 
except  the  Aleuts  and  the  eastern  Siberian  natives.  It  is  in 
use  at  the  present  time  from  Greenland  to  Bering  Strait, 
and  thence  southward  to  the  vicinity  of  Mount  St.  Elias. 

In  Alaska  the  Innuits  are  divided  into  at  least  fourteen 
tribes,  speaking  as  many  different  dialects,  and  distinguished 
by  such  names  as  Ugalakmuts,  Kaniagmuts,  etc.  The  ter- 
mination mitt,  in  a  substantive  sense,  means  a  village  at  the 
place  or  on  the  river  to  the  name  of  which  it  is  added  (Dall). 
In  common  with  all  other  Eskimo  tribes  the  Innuits  are  a 
sturdy,  well-built  people,  having  lighter-coloured  skins  than 
the  Indians,  and  more  nearly  approaching  the  yellow  of  the 
Asiatics,  but  distinct  from  it,  and  in  many  instances  having 
a  decided  reddish  tinge  to  the  cheeks.  The  prevalent  idea 
that  the  Eskimo  is  of  decidedly  short  stature  is  not  borne  out 
by  the  various  tribes  in  Alaska,  who  are  not  much,  if  any, 
below  the  average  height  of  Europeans.  Their  rotund  bod- 
ies and  full,  round  faces,  in  which  the  organ  answering  to 
a  nose  is  depressed  until  between  the  eyes  it  is  scarcely  dis- 
tinguishable, suggest  that  the  severity  of  the  climate  has 
led  to  a  development  of  fat  for  protection  against  cold  in 
the  same  manner  as  among  the  seals  and  walruses.  Such  a 
generalization  is  perhaps  misleading,  as  great  individual 
variation-  occur  as  among  all  peoples,  but  the  typical  Innuit 
whose  figure  remains  in  one's  memory  when  the  bony  hags, 
the  cadaverous  individuals,  and  the  aged  arc  forgotten  or  but 
dimly  recalled,  favours  the  conventional  pictures  of  Santa 
Clan's,  with  a  face  resembling  the  full  moon,  small  black  eves 
with  a  suggestion  of  obliquity  in  their  alignment,  and  nearly 
complete  absence  of  a  beard  on  the  ruddy  cheeks. 

The  food  of  the  Eskimos  of  Alaska,  as  is  the  case  with  all 


3 


68  NORTH    AMERICA 


other  divisions  of  that  people,  is  derived  mainly  from  the  sea. 
Their  diet  is  almost  exclusively  fish,  the  blubber  and  flesh 
of  the  seal,  walrus,  and  whales,  especially  the  white  whale 
or  beluga,  which  ascends  the  larger  streams.  To  these 
sources  of  supply  are  added  the  arctic  hare,  caribou  (rein- 
deer), and  in  fact  any  flesh  that  can  be  obtained.  Vegetable 
diet  is  almost  unknown,  except  so  far  as  it  is  supplied  by  the 
berries  that  grow  in  profusion  on  the  tundras.  The  neces- 
sity for  salt,  so  marked  in  the  case  of  most  peoples,  is  absent 
in  the  far  north. 

The  coast  of  Alaska,  where  dwells  the  Innuit,  is  treeless. 
Inland  from  the  margin  of  the  sea  extends  the  permanently 
frozen  tundra.  Wood  for  fires,  sleds,  frames  for  skin  boats, 
spears,  bows,  arrows,  etc.,  and  in  prehistoric  time  for  pro- 
ducing fire  by  friction,  is  derived  entirely  from  driftwood 
cast  on  the  beach  by  the  waves.  This  wood,  consisting  in 
many  instances  of  great  tree-trunks  from  which  planks  two 
or  more  feet  wide  can  be  hewn,  is  brought  to  the  sea  by 
rivers  heading  far  inland,  as,  for  example,  the  Yukon  and  the 
Kuskokwim,  and  distributed  by  the  wind  and  currents  all 
about  the  coast  and  islands  of  Bering  Sea.  Driftwood  is 
also  carried  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  by  the  Mackenzie,  but  in  gen- 
eral is  not  plentiful  on  the  borders  of  the  ice-bound  northern 
ocean. 

The  houses  of  the  Alaskan  Innuit  previous  to  the  coming 
of  the  Russians,  and  still  to  a  great  extent,  consist  of  a 
single  room,  usually  measuring  about  10  by  14  feet,  situ- 
ated in  part  below  the  surface  of  the  ground  and  entered 
by  means  of  a  tunnel-like  passageway.  They  are  made  of 
driftwood,  and  floored,  lined,  and  roofed  with  planks  hewn 
from  the  same  material.  On  a  roof  of  poles  sods  and  earth 
are  placed  and  rendered  compact  by  stamping,  thus  form- 
ing a  cover  which  serves  to  exclude  water  produced  by  the 
melting  of  the  naturally  added  layer  of  snow.  When 
spring-time  approaches  these  partially  subterranean  winter 
dwellings  are  liable  to  be  inundated,  and  are  abandoned 
and  tents  used  during  summer  seasons.  Formerly  these 
tents  were  made  of  skins  of  caribou  or  seal,  but  in 
these  degenerate  days  cotton  drilling  bought  of  white  traders 


THE    ABORIGINES  3^9 

has  been  substituted.  During  winter  journeys  temporary 
snow  huts  are  built,  of  the  oval,  bake-oven  shape,  well  known 
to  most  Europeans  from  the  many  pictures  that  have  been 
published  of  similar  structures  made  by  the  more  northern 
Eskimos.  On  the  coast  of  Alaska,  however,  when  drift- 
wood is  available,  the  roofs  of  the  snow  houses  are  fre- 
quently made  of  poles  on  which  snow  is  piled. 

In  addition  to  the  ordinary  winter  dwelling's,  which  are 
usually  occupied  by  two  or  more  families,  each  village  is 
commonly  supplied  with  an  assembly  house  or  cosine  (a 
word  of  Russian  origin),  which  serves  also  as  a  bath-house, 
and  in  them  winter  dances,  the  chief  amusement  of  the  peo- 
ple, are  held.  The  casine,  built  by  the  united  efforts  of  the 
various  members  of  a  community,  consist  of  a  single  room, 
in  part  underground  and  entered  by  a  tunnel,  which  frequent- 
ly measures  some  25  by  30  feet  on  the  sides,  and  is  approx- 
imately 15  feet  high.  They  are  substantially  made  of  logs 
or  of  thick  planks  hewn  with  much  labour  from  stranded 
tree  trunks.  The  roof  is  of  logs  covered  with  moss  and 
earth,  and  has  an  opening  in  the  centre  for  the  escape  of 
smoke  from  the  fire  kindled  on  a  hearth  in  the  centre  of  the 
floor.  When  the  fire  is  not  burning,  the  opening  in  the  roof  is 
closed  with  a  membrane  obtained  from  the  intestines  of  the 
seal.  About  the  sides  of  the  room  there  is  a  raised  platform 
for  spectators  during  dances  and  for  the  use  of  bathers  when 
the  customary  steam-baths  are  indulged  in.  An  interesting 
fact  in  connection  with  both  the  ordinary  winter  homes  and 
the  casines,  which  indicates  their  American  origin,  is 
that  they  are  communal.  A  tenement  used  by  several  fam- 
ilies in  common  is  characteristic  of  the  American  aborigines 
from  the  arctic  to  Panama. 

The  architecture  of  the  Innuits  has  been  modified  but 
little  during  recent  years,  except  that  in  localities  most  vis- 
ited by  white  men  and  where  trading  stations  have  been 
■  tablished.  as  at  St.  Michael,  log-houses  built  after  the  man- 
ner of  those  used  by  the  Russian  residents  have  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  replaced  the  native  hut-,  with  favourable 
results  so  far  as  sanitary  conditions  air  concerned.  I  he 
Russian  log-house  1-  not  unlike  the  many  similar  structures 


0/ 


o  NORTH    AMERICA 


still  to  be  seen  in  portions  of  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
except  that  the  upper  side  of  each  log  is  hewn  so  as  to  have 
a  sharp  edge,  which  fits  into  a  deep  groove,  cut  in  the  log 
which  rests  on  it.  Moss  is  placed  between  the  logs,  and  is 
also  used  to  fill  all  holes  and  crevices.  Air  is  usually  ad- 
mitted through  a  pipe  situated  beneath  the  floor  and  open- 
ing in  front  of  the  stove,  if  one  is  used,  and  a  small  pipe  for 
ventilation  passes  out  through  the  roof.  In  the  Russian 
houses  the  stove  is  usually  a  huge  affair,  made  of  large  flat 
stones,  which  retain  heat  for  a  long  time. 

The  dress  of  the  Innuits  in  former  days,  in  common  with 
all  the  Eskimo  tribes,  consisted  of  skins,  and  in  special  cases 
of  the  intestines  of  seals.  The  characteristic  garment  is  the 
parkie  or  overshirt,  not  open  in  front,  however,  provided 
with  a  hood  and  made  of  caribou  skin  tanned  with  the  hair 
on.  Those  worn  by  men  have  a  different  cut  than  those  in- 
tended for  women.  In  recent  years,  and  perhaps  before  the 
coming  of  white  men,  the  skins  for  the  manufacture  of 
parkies  were  derived  largely  by  trade  from  the  people  owning 
domesticated  reindeer  in  Asia.  The  margin  of  the  hood 
is  commonly  made  of  wolf  skins,  the  long  hair  of  which, 
blowing  across  the  face,  affords  much  protection.  Trousers 
and  boots  made  of  the  skin  of  the  hair  seal  or  moccasins 
shaped  from  the  skin  of  the  leg  of  a  caribou  completed  the 
dress.  Mats  of  grass  are  worn  in  the  boots  or  moccasins 
during  cold  weather.  At  the  present  time  the  summer  cloth- 
ing of  the  natives  throughout  Alaska  is  generally  of  cloth 
obtained  from  white  traders,  but  nothing  brought  from  more 
civilized  countries  can  replace  the  parkies,  fur  trousers,  skin 
boots,  and  waterproof  shirts  or  kamlaykas.  These  articles, 
except  the  last  mentioned,  are  largely  used  by  white  men, 
especially  if  making  winter  journeys. 

The  boats  in  use  among  the  Innuits  are  still  the  kayak 
and  the  oomiak,  for  which  civilized  man  can  offer  no  ade- 
quate substitute.  The  well-known  kayak,  made  of  a  light 
framework  of  wood,  tied  with  thongs,  over  which  is  tightly 
stretched  a  dressed  sealskin  covering,  leaving  only  one  or 
two  circular  openings  for  the  occupant,  is  in  use  from  Green- 
land all  about  the  arctic  coast  of  America  to  Asia.    Different 


it^r^^ 


C3 


LINGUISTIC    STOCKS    OF    INDIANS    NORTH    OF    MEXICO 


THE    ABORIGINES  371 

shapes  pertain  to  different  tribes.  In  recent  years,  as  a  result 
of  outside  influence,  openings  for  three  occupants  are  some- 
times made,  the  size  of  the  boat  also  being  increased.  To 
one  familiar  with  boat  and  canoe  travel  these  light  skin  craft, 
with  their  water-tight  decks,  seem  the  perfection  of  boat 
construction.  The  occupant  lashes  the  skirt  of  his  kamlayka 
about  the  raised  rim  of  the  opening  in  which  he  sits  and  the 
boat  is  thus  rendered  impervious  to  water  from  whatever 
direction.  The  greatest  danger  is  that  the  parchment-like 
covering  may  be  ruptured,  as  by  the  cutting  edge  of  thin  ice. 
To  ordinary  storms,  however,  they  are  more  safe  than  even 
the  deservedly  celebrated  "  whale-boat  "  of  the  white  man. 
The  oomiak,  or  woman's  boat,  also  made  of  dressed  skin 
stretched  over  a  frame,  is  much  larger  than  the  kayak,  has  a 
flat  bottom,  is  without  deck  covering,  and  designed  for  the 
use  of  many  occupants.  As  is  well  known,  boats  of  each  of 
these  types  are  propelled  by  means  of  paddles.  Both  the 
kayak  and  oomiak  are  still  in  every-day  use,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  the  boats  of  the  white  man  will  never  wholly  replace 
them. 

The  changes  in  house-building  and  dress  referred  to, 
which  have  come  from  contact  with  white  men,  are  outward 
signs  of  a  great  modification  in  the  lives  of  the  lnnuits, 
which  began  in  the  early  days  of  Russian  occupation  and  has 
continued  with  increasing  importance  to  the  present  time. 
The  natives  are  quick  to  imitate  the  customs  of  the  strangers 
who  have  visited  them,  and  but  for  the  restraint  that  the 
climatic  conditions  have  put  upon  them  and  the  high  price 
in  furs  demanded  by  traders  for  imported  goods  the  changes 
thus  produced  would  be  far  more  marked  than  is  now  the 
case.  To  some  extent  the  food  of  the  natives  has  been 
modified,  flour  being  in  demand,  but,  with  minor  exceptions, 
the  principal  articles  consumed  are  still  such  as  are  ob- 
tained by  hunting  and  fishing. 

The  greatest  change  that  has  taken  place  in  the  condition 
of  the  Alaskan  lnnuits.  and  one  which,  perhaps,  culminated 
at  the  time  of  the  recent  "  gold  excitement  "  on  the  Yukon 
and  at  Cape  Nome,  is  in  relation  to  the  introduction  of  in- 
toxicating liquors  anc1  of  certain  contagions  diseases.     I  hese 


372  NORTH    AMERICA 

scourges,  coming  from  the  south,  have  been  almost  as  great 
a  blight  among  the  native  peoples  as  would  be  the  sweeping 
southward  of  a  wave  of  arctic  temperature  to  the  vegetation 
of  tropical  lands.  The  curse  of  contact,  resulting  when  a 
civilized  race  invades  a  land  inhabited  by  childlike  aborigi- 
nes, as  has  been  seen  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  has  over- 
taken the  Innuits  in  common  with  nearly  all  other  tribes  in 
Alaska,  and  decadence  and  the  prolongation  of  a  miserable 
existence,  unless  cut  short  by  extermination  through  starva- 
tion, is  all  that  seemingly  can  be  hoped  for. 

The  fur-bearing  animals  of  Alaska  have  been  greatly  re- 
duced in  numbers  during  the  last  twenty-five  years :  the 
caribou  and  the  moose  have,  to  a  marked  degree,  been  killed 
or  driven  to  remote  regions ;  the  larger  whales,  on  account 
of  overcapture  by  American  whalers,  have  become  scarce ;  the 
sea-lion  and  the  walrus  are  nearly  extinct ;  the  fur-seal,  of 
more  importance  to  the  Aleutians  than  the  Innuits,  is  rap- 
idly approaching  extinction.  Thus  in  many  ways  the  food 
supply  is  greatly  decreased.  Recourse  to  agriculture  is  im- 
possible. The  one  redeeming  feature  of  the  white  man's  ag- 
gression is  the  introduction  of  the  domesticated  reindeer 
from  Asia  and  Lapland.  With  reindeer,  the  salmon,  not  as 
yet  depleted  in  the  streams  emptying  into  Bering  Sea,  the 
white  whale,  the  hair-seal,  not  as  yet  of  commercial  value, 
the  countless  birds  of  summer,  the  berries  of  the  tundra,  etc., 
the  Innuits  can  survive,  maintain  their  manhood,  and  become 
useful  to  civilization  in  certain  ways  if  the  curse  of  drink 
and  the  spread  of  imported  diseases  could  be  stopped.  Such 
a  change,  however,  for  various  reasons,  is  not  to  be  hoped 
for.  It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  the  influence  of  mission- 
aries, and,  what  is  vastly  more  important,  the  work  of  the 
school-teacher,  has  opened  to  these  children  of  the  cold  north- 
ern land  a  way  to  civilization,  but  the  results  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time  are  not  reassuring. 

The  census  of  1890  showed  that  the  Innuits  of  Alaska 
numbered  13,045.  In  the  census  of  1900  a  separate  enumer- 
ation of  Eskimos  and  Indians  was  not  made. 

The  dismal  picture  I  have  been  compelled  to  sketch  of 
the  present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  the  Innuits 


THE    ABORIGINES  373 

of  Alaska,  in  order  to  indicate  their  status  at  the  opening  of 
the  twentieth  century,  applies  also  with  variations  in  detail 
and  some  hopeful  signs  to  a  large  majority  of  the  other 
aboriginal  tribes  of  North  America. 

The  Aleutians. — The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the 
Aleutian  Islands  are  termed  Aleuts  or  Aleutians,  a  word 
of  obscure  and  perhaps  foreign  derivation.  As  stated  above, 
they  belong  to  the  Eskimo  family,  but  are  more  widely  sepa- 
rated from  the  parent  stock  than  any  other  of  its  constituent 
tribes.  Evidence  advanced  by  \Y.  H.  Dall  tends  to  show 
that  they  are  of  American  continental  origin.  At  the  time 
of  the  first  coming  of  the  Russians,  about  1750,  they  were  at 
war  with  the  Kaniagmuts,  who  inhabited  the  greater  part  of 
the  Alaskan  peninsula  and  were  the  nearest  tribe  of  the 
Innuits. 

When  discovered  by  the  Russians  the  Aleuts  were  an 
active,  sprightly  people,  fond  of  the  dance  and  of  festivities. 
They  are  of  lighter  colour,  but  not  perhaps  in  general  more 
nearly  white  than  the  full-blooded  Innuits.     At  present  it  is 
difficult  to  find  even  a  single  representative  of  unmixed  de- 
scent,  Russian  occupation  having  stamped  out  or  greatly 
modified  nearly  every  native  characteristic  both  of  body  and 
mind.     They  were  originally  a  robust  people,  of  about  the 
average   height   found   in   civilized   countries,   with   coarse 
black  hair  and  scanty  beards.     Their  island  life,  where  no 
large  game  invited  inland  journeys,  made  them  emphatically 
"  canoe  people."     The  habit  of  sitting  in  their  kayaks  and 
using  the  muscles  of  the  upper  portion  of  the  body  in  pad- 
dling, throwing  the  spear,  etc.,  while  the  lower  portion  of  the 
body  received  but  little  exercise,  led  to  a  fine  chest  develop- 
ment and  to  undersized  and  comparatively  weak  legs.     The 
women.  t<  1  wh<  »m  the  use  of  the  kayak  was  n<  »t  intrusted,  were 
better  proportioned  than  the  men.  and  many  of  them  are 
pleasing  in  appearance.     As  stated  by   Dall,  they  were  less 
determined  than  their  neighbours  on  the  mainland,  the  Ka- 
niagmuts, but  were  by  no  mean-  devoid  of  courage.      I  heir 
mode  of  worship  partook  more  of  the  character  of  a  religion 
than  that  of  any  other  of  the  Eskimo  tribes  111  their  native 
conditio  in. 


3/4  NORTH    AMERICA 

From  what  can  be  learned  of  the  Aleuts  in  their  uncon- 
taminated  native  state,  they  seem  to  have  been  the  most  intel- 
ligent of  all  the  Eskimo  tribes  and  the  one  which  gave  the 
greatest  promise,  if  treated  humanely,  of  advancement  when 
civilization  was  introduced.  Less  than  a  century  of  contact 
with  Russian  invaders, however,  led  to  a  depth  of  degradation 
that  is  only  paralleled  and  possibly  not  exceeded  by  the 
shameful  results  of  the  Spanish  invasion  among  the  abo- 
rigines of  the  West  Indies.  One  of  the  darkest  chapters  in 
American  history,  fortunately  for  the  credit  of  Europeans 
now  largely  lost,  is  that  containing  an  account  of  the  brutal 
treatment  the  Aleuts  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Russians. 
The  childlike  natives  became  worse  than  slaves.  The  de- 
bauchery of  their  oppressors  was  shameful.  As  stated  by 
Dall,  "  the  Aleuts  were  subjected  to  the  most  horrible  out- 
rages. The  names  of  Glottoff  and  Solovioff  (two  Russian 
explorers,  1764-65)  make  them  shudder  to  this  day.  Thou- 
sands perished  under  sword  and  fire.  Long  after  those  enor- 
mities were  checked  the  Russians  considered  the  Aleuts  as 
beasts  rather  than  men,"  etc.  Their  numbers,  estimated  at 
10,000  in  1799.  were,  according  to  a  Russian  census,  re- 
duced to  5.238  in  1808,  and,  as  stated  by  Dall.  numbered 
not  more  than  1,500  in  1870.  The  census  of  1890  gives  it 
as  967. 

The  incentive  to  Russian  oppression  was  the  greed  for 
furs  and  the  lust  of  rude  men  at  a  distance  from  all  centres- 
of  control.  The  Aleutian  Islands  and  neighbouring  waters 
is  the  home  of  the  sea-otter,  which  is  clothed  with  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  furs.  Near  at  hand  are  the  Pribilof  Islands, 
to  which  the  fur-seal  formerly  resorted  each  summer  in 
countless  numbers,  and  during  its  migrations  traversed  the 
passes  separating  the  islands  of  the  Aleutian  chain,  where 
they  were  easily  taken ;  the  commercial  value  of  their  skins- 
previous  to  about  1867,  however,  was  small.  In  addition, 
the  land  otter  and  several  species  of  foxes  also  inhabited 
the  same  region.  These  allurements  tempted  the  Russians, 
and  besides  the  Aleutian  Islands,  with  their  sheltered  har- 
bours, furnished  favourable  stations  from  which  to  extend 
the  fur  trade  into  the  still  greater  region  to  the  eastward, 


THE    ABORIGINES  375 

and  at  an  early  date  in  the  foreign  occupation  of  Alaska 
became  a  basis  for  supplies. 

The  entire  fur  trade  in  Russian  America  was  placed  by 
charter  in  the  hands  of  the  Russian  American  Fur  Company 
in  1799.  which,  like  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  had  terri- 
torial jurisdiction  as  well  as  trade  monopoly.  This  powerful 
company  maintained  its  existence  under  various  renewals  of 
its  charter  until  the  purchase  of  Alaska  by  the  United  States 
in  1867.  The  authority  conferred  on  the  Russian  company 
gave  it  exclusive  right  to  purchase  furs  from  the  natives,  and 
thus  to  dictate  prices.  This  system  was  fraught  with  evil  to 
the  natives,  and  their  extinction  would  no  doubt  have  re- 
sulted had  it  not  been  for  the  influence  of  missionaries  of  the 
Russian-Greek  Church,  among  whom  the  name  of  Veniami- 
noff  will  ever  be  held  in  blessed  memory.  In  a  measure  the 
gross  oppression  of  the  Russians  brought  its  own  punish- 
ment to  the  offenders.  The  decrease  in  the  number  of  the 
Aleutians  meant  a  decline  in  the  number  of  pelts  secured. 
To  insure  the  gathering  of  the  highly  prized  furs  the  native 
hunters  must  be  maintained.  The  later  days  of  Russian 
occupation  were  characterized  by  more  humane  treatment  of 
the  natives,  schools  were  established  among  them,  liquors 
withheld,  and  their  rapid  decline  checked.  When  Alaska  was 
purchased  by  the  United  States  the  Russian-American  Fur 
Company  was  supplanted  by  the  Alaskan  Commercial 
Company,  to  whom  a  lease  of  the  Pribilof  Islands  was 
granted.  In  this  lease  provision  was  made  for  the  sup- 
port and  education  of  the  Aleutians  on  the  Pribilof  Islands. 
As  the  chief  and  almost  the  sole  employment  open  to  the 
Aleutians  during  the  past  thirty  years  has  been  the  taking 
of  sealskins  on  these  islands,  this  wise  provision  had  a 
beneficent  influence  on  the  entire  tribe.  Mow  faithfully  the 
Alaskan  Commercial  Company  carried  oul  its  contracl  has 
been  seriously  questioned,  but  it  is.  nevertheless,  a  fact  that 
the  Aleutian-  have  fared  better  under  \merican  than  under 
Russian  rule.  A  gradual  adverse  change  in  their  condi- 
tion has  come  about,  however,  owing  to  the  decrease  and 
threatened  extinction  of  the  sea-otter,  and  the  great  decline 
in  the  number  of  the   fur-seals  owing  to  the  attacks  made 


376  NORTH    AMERICA 

on  them  during  their  annual  migrations,  which  amounts 
to  commercial  extinction.  The  lucrative  industries  of  the 
natives  have  thus  practically  disappeared,  and  there  is 
nothing  to  take  their  place.  The  surviving  members  are 
objects  of  charity,  but  as  yet  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment has  made  no  adequate  provision  for  their  support. 
One  method  of  ameliorating  the  existing  adverse  condi- 
tions that  is  practicable  is  the  introduction  of  domesticated 
reindeer;  another,  not  so  easy  to  accomplish,  is  the  sup- 
pression of  the  liquor  traffic. 

The  Indians 

The  aborigines  of  the  New  World  to  the  southward 
of  the  narrow  strip  of  arctic  coast-land  inhabited  by  the 
Eskimo  are  designated  by  the  term  Indian,  as  already  ex- 
plained. There  is  no  sharp  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
Indians  of  North  and  South  America,  one  shading  into 
the  other,  but  only  those  of  the  northern  continent  are  here 
considered. 

In  many  scientific  treatises,  as  well  as  in  books  of  travel 
and  general  literature,  the  Indians  are  frequently  referred  to 
as  "  red  men,"  and  the  term  "  copper  coloured  "  commonly 
applied  to  them.  To  the  writer  each  of  these  expressions 
seems  infelicitous.  It  is  true  that  throughout  America  the 
Indians  have  a  reddish  undertone  in  their  colour,  but  in 
numerous  tribes  it  is  not  pronounced.  As  to  copper  colour, 
the  meaning  of  the  term  is  vague.  What  is  copper  colour? 
Presumably  the  colour  of  the  pure  metal  when  unoxidized. 
No  such  colour  is  more  than  suggested  even  by  the  aborigines 
having  the  lightest  skins  in  the  members  of  the  many  tribes 
that  have  come  under  the  writer's  notice.  A  more  correct 
term — but  this  is  a  matter  of  opinion,  in  which  differences 
are  permissible — would  be  brown,  of  which  many  shades 
occur,  ranging  from  light  cinnamon  colour  to  dark  chocolate, 
and  even  nearly  black.  There  is  no  recognisable  connection 
between  variations  in  colour  and  climatic  conditions.  The 
faces,  hands,  and  other  freely  exposed  portions  of  their 
bodies  are  darker  than  the  parts  usually  covered  with  cloth- 
ing, and  frequently  suggest  the  appearance  of  bronze  statutes 


THE    ABORIGINES  377 

not  fully  darkened  by  exposure  to  the  weather.  In  colour 
they  more  nearly  approach  that  of  the  Polynesians  than  any 
other  peoples,  but  in  general  are  of  a  darker  hue.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  various  Indian  tribes,  although  presenting  a  wide 
range  of  differences,  have  many  physiological  and  mental 
resemblances,  which,  like  their  languages,  serve  to  set  them 
apart  from  all  other  peoples.  A  composite  picture  of  their 
persons  would  show  a  man  sinewy  rather  than  heavy  in  build, 
but  there  are  many  exceptions;  of  average  stature,  5  feet 
8  or  10  inches,  but  there  are  tribes  whose  average  is  more, 
and  others  in  which  it  is  less;  dark  brown,  with  a  reddish 
undertone,  in  colour;  deep-set,  black,  and  in  general  small 
eyes,  their  alignment  straight ;  the  nose  prominent  and  fre- 
quently well  shaped;  mouth  large,  with  strong,  frequently 
perfect  teeth  ;  lower  jaw  massive ;  and  face  beardless  or  nearly 
so,  and  the  hair  of  the  scalp  long,  coarse,  and  black.  In 
order  to  make  such  a  sketch  realistic,  the  bronze-like  athletic 
figure  must  be  clothed  in  a  blanket  worn  with  the  grace  of  a 
Roman  toga  or  wrapped  in  a  robe  of  bison-skin ;  the  feet 
encased  in  moccasins  of  tanned  deerskin,  and  usually  deco- 
rated with  beads  or  variously  coloured  porcupine-quills ;  the 
face  striped,  dotted,  or  blotched  with  various  colours;  the 
coarse  hair  falling  like  a  thatch  to  the  shoulder,  or  braided, 
and  in  certain  tribes  shaved  or  plucked,  except  only  the  tra- 
ditional scalp-lock,  and  decorated  with  feathers,  most  fre- 
quently of  the  eagle;  necklaces,  rings  in  the  ears,  amulets, 
etc.,  made  of  the  claws  of  the  bear,  shells,  beads,  quills,  etc., 
bespeak  various  tribes;  the  primitive  weapons  were  the 
hatchet-like  tomahawk,  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  the  spear. 
The  Indian  has  been  idealized  in  the  writings  of  poets  and 
novelists,  but  occasionally,  even  at  the  present  day,  one  meets 
with  an  approach  to  the  ideal.  Judged  by  the  standards  of 
civilization,  as  he  is  seen  to-day  on  numerous  reservations 
and  about  the  streets  of  towns,  lie  is  a  lazy,  dirty  vagabond. 
A  far  more  favourable  and  agreeable  picture  is  presented, 
especially  in  the  eastern  portion  "l~  ('ana. la  and  adjacent 
States  to  the  south  and  in  the  Indian  Territory,  where  the 
blessing-  of  civilization  have  been  accepted  and  the  once 
roaming  savage  has  become  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  an  owner  ol 


378  NORTH    AMERICA 

cattle  and  sheep,  and  lives  in  a  comfortable  house  supplied 
with  furniture  such  as  white  men  use. 

While  a  racial  likeness  impossible  to  conceal  unites  all 
of  the  various  tribes,  no  single  picture  or  generalized  descrip- 
tion, however  carefully  prepared,  can  convey  to  one  unfamil- 
iar with  the  Indian  an  accurate  idea  of  his  personal  appear- 
ance. A  typical  example  from  one  tribe  when  critically  stud- 
ied is  found  to  differ  widely  from  an  equally  representative 
example  of  another  tribe,  not  only  in  speech,  dress,  methods 
of  wearing  the  hair,  ornaments,  etc.,  but  also  in  physique 
and  in  mental  traits. 

In  temperament  the  Indian  is  usually  described  as  being 
moody,  reserved,  wary,  grave,  and  his  face  expressionless, 
the  current  of  his  thoughts  being  unrevealed  in  his  proud, 
indifferent  bearing.  In  his  own  mind  he  seems  to  consider 
himself  superior  to  all  other  beings,  and  to  regard  them  with 
contemptuous  indifference.  All  this  is  true  enough  as  seen 
by  a  stranger,  but  in  his  home  life,  and  not  infrequently  when 
in  the  presence  of  trusted  white  men,  the  mask  of  indiffer- 
ence is  laid  aside  and  the  laugh  and  jest  indulged  in.  The 
extreme  of  assumed  indifference  is  exhibited,  as  has  been 
well  attested  by  many  witnesses,  when  death  by  torture  is 
inflicted  on  a  captive,  as,  for  example,  burning  alive,  when 
no  outward  sign  is  permitted  to  reveal  his  intense  suffering. 

The  Indian  is  a  hunter  and  fisherman  both  from  in- 
heritance and  necessity.  From  his  mode  of  life  his  sense 
of  sight  and  of  hearing  have  become  wonderfully  acute. 
His  skill  in  following  a  trail  is  proverbial.  When  living  near 
the  sea  or  by  the  side  of  streams  and  lakes  he  is  as  much 
at  home  in  a  canoe  as  his  relative  of  the  plains  in  post-Co- 
lumbian days  when  seated  on  his  hardy  pony.  In  current 
literature,  however,  all  of  these  traits,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
personality  of  the  Indian,  have  been  fused  into  one  ideal. 
It  is  true  that  the  Indian  hunter  is  more  skilled  in  follow- 
ing a  trail,  in  interpreting  the  signs  and  sounds  in  the  for- 
est, in  shooting  the  foaming  rapids  in  his  frail  canoe,  etc.. 
than  the  average  white  man  to  whom  such  pursuits  are  inci- 
dental or  newly  acquired;  but  many  white  men,  and  par- 
ticularly those   who  have   in   a   measure  degenerated   and 


THE    ABORIGINES  379 

assumed  the  Indian  mode  of  life,  are  his  equal,  if  not  his 
superior,  in  all  that  pertains  to  woodcraft. 

In  mental  qualities  the  Indian  is  the  inferior  of  the  Cau- 
casian and  the  Asiatic,  but  is  the  superior  of  the  negro.  The 
ability  to  advance  is  not  absent,  and  capacity  to  reach  a  cer- 
tain grade  in  civilization  is  general,  but  beyond  the  acquire- 
ment of  indifferent  skill  in  the  arts,  literature,  etc.,  but  few- 
have  passed.  The  mental  quality  of  perseverance  under 
adverse  conditions  and  of  continuous  application  has  not 
been  granted  him. 

These  children  of  the  forests  and  plains,  easily  pleased 
and  as  easily  angered;  kind  to  their  children  and  friends,  but 
cruelly  revengeful  when  enraged;  treasuring  a  kindness,  but 
never  forgetting  an  injury;  without  rigid  self-control,  as  is 
sadly  illustrated  by  their  inordinate  passion  for  liquor  when 
once  a  taste  for  it  is  acquired,  are  plastic  organisms,  which 
reflect  the  conditions  under  which  they  have  developed. 
These  untutored  barbarians,  descendants  from  ancestors  who 
brought  little  with  them  save  the  stone  axe  and  the  stone 
spear,  but  of  necessity  originated  all  their  arts  and  institu- 
tions without  contact  with  other  peoples,  and  were  exposed 
to  a  wide  range  of  climatic  and  other  physical  conditions  for 
manv  centuries,  present  a  most  instructive  subject  for  the 
study  of  the  geographer  and  others  who  are  interested  in  the 
relation  of  man  to  his  environment. 

Resources. — To  the  Indian  in  pre-Columbian  days  no 
ships  fmm  overseas  brought  supplies,  and  as  the  various 
tribes  were  frequently  at  war  with  their  neighbours,  trade  re- 
lations were  greatly  restricted.  Intertribal  barter  was  car- 
ried on,  however,  and  the  capture  of  supplies  and  utensils 
of  various  sorts  by  one  tribe  from  another  favoured  their 
dispersion.  Although  such  articles  as  the  native  copper  of 
the  Lake  Superior  region,  the  red  pipe-stone  (catlinite)  of 
Minnesota,  and  obsidian  from  various  places  found  its  way 
to  remote  localities,  each  tribe  had  essentially  to  supply  its 
want-  from  the  natural  resources  of  its  own  domain.  The 
range  in  raw  materials,  to  borrow  a  modern  commercial 
term,  thai  the  Indian's  intellectual  developmenl  permitted 
him  to  utilize  is  indicated  in  the  following  table: 


;8o 


NORTH    AMERICA 


Used  for  food. 


Used  in  making 
utensils  and  weap- 
ons. 


Used  as  personal 
ornaments  and  in 
the  decoration  of 
houses,  boats,  etc. 


Used  for  clothing. 


Used    in     the    con- 
struction of  houses 


Used      in       making 
boats. 


Vegetable  < 


Animal :   Mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  crustaceans, 
insects,  and  at  times  human  flesh. 

Wild — roots,    bulbs,    seeds,    fruits,    nuts, 

bark,  berries,  sap. 
Cultivated — maize, cacao,  melons, squashes, 
tomatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  potatoes,  pine- 
apple, (tobacco). 
Mineral :  Salt,  (earth  in  certain  instances). 
Animal :  Skins,  sinews,  tendons,  hair,  wool,  feathers, 
and  cochineal  for  dyes. 

j   Wild — bark,  fibres,  roots,  dyes,  gums. 
°  (   Cultivated — cotton,  aloe  (?) 

Mineral :  Dyes,  such  as  ochres  and  cinnabar,  charcoal. 
Animal .  Skins,  sinew,  etc. 

Vegetable:  Logs,  bark,  seeds  ;  grass,  roots,  etc.,  for  mats. 
Mineral :  Stone,  adobe,  sods,  earth,  selenite  (caves). 
Animal :  Skins,  sinew  ;  oil  in  paint ;  quills,  shells,  etc., 

for  decoration. 
Vegetable  :  Tree  trunks,  bark,  seeds,  pitch. 
Mineral :  Asphaltum  ;  metallic  oxides,  etc.,  for  paint. 
Animal:   Bones,  horns,  skins,  scales,  teeth,  shells. 
Vegetable:  Wood,  bark,  nuts,  leaves,  fibre,  dyes,  pitch. 
Mineral  :    Soapstone    for   pots,   pipes,    etc.  ;   obsidian, 
flint,  etc.,  for  spear  and  arrow  points,  knives,  scrapers, 
etc.  ;  various  hard  stones  and  pebbles  for  axes,  mor- 
tars,   pestles,    etc.  ;    copper   for  axes,    knives,    etc.  ; 
mineral  dyes  ;  gold  and  silver. 
'  Animal :  Skins,   hair,   fur,  bones,  hoofs,  claws,  teeth, 
ivory,  oil  in  paints ;    shells,   coral,   pearls,   feathers, 
quills,  scales,  etc. 
Vegetable  :  Seeds  ;  fibres  for  mats,  basket-work,  etc. 
Mineral:  Stone  (turquoise,  emerald,  jasper,  mica,  cat- 
linite,   etc.),    clay,    gold,    silver,   meteoric    iron  ;   and 
various  metallic  oxides,  cinnabar,  etc.,  for  paints. 


In  these  several  ways,  and  yet  others,  as  in  their  games, 
medical  practice,  elaborate  religious  ceremonials,  mortuary 
customs,  modes  of  travel,  etc.,  the  aborigines  utilized  a  wide 
range  of  materials  supplied  by  nature,  and  supplemented 
them  by  horticulture,  and  to  an  exceedingly  limited  extent  by 
domesticating  animals.  The  degree  to  which  they  utilized 
the  natural  supplies  was  much  less  in  certain  directions  than 
became  possible  to  civilized  people,  but  several  sources  of  raw 
materials  prized  by  them  have  not  been  called  upon  by  white 
men,  and  are  now  in  greater  or  less  measure  abandoned  by 


THE    ABORIGINES  381 

the  natives  themselves.  The  vast  mineral  wealth  of  the 
continent  was  almost  entirely  unavailing  to  the  aborigines, 
except  so  far  as  native  metals  were  discovered;  while  sev- 
eral articles,  such  as  the  camass,  the  seeds  of  grasses,  in- 
sects, etc.,  for  food  and  material  used  for  implements,  as 
obsidian  for  arrow-points,  spears,  and  knives,  catlinite  and 
other  stones  for  pipes,  porcupine-quills  for  decoration,  etc., 
are  of  small  value  to  Europeans^  While  civilized  man  has 
become  more  and  more  incTependent  of  climatic  and  other 
natural  conditions,  largely  through  the  aid  of  commerce, 
the  aborigines  were  much  less  resistant  and  were   forced 

o  adjust  themselves  to  their  environment,  and  like  other 

lastic  organisms,  were  modified  by  it. 

'  The  Natural  Food  Supply. — The  food  of  the  Indians  was 
mainly  the  flesh  of  mammals,  birds,  and  fishes.  The  smaller 
deer  of  various  species  inhabited  the  entire  continent  from 
the  subarctic  forest  to  Panama.  The  range  of  the  hears  was 
equally  extensive,  but  in  certain  instances,  on  account  of 
superstitious  fear,  were  not  customarily  used  for  food.  The 
almost  universal  source  of  food  supply  furnished  by  the 
smaller  deer  was  supplemented  at  the  far  north  by  the  Barren 
Ground  caribou,  succeeded  southward  by  the  woodland  cari- 
bou; overlapping  the  range  of  the  latter  and  extending  far- 
ther south  was  the  moose;  this,  in  turn,  was  supplemented 
and  exceeded  in  southern  range  by  the  Wapiti  (elk)  :  more 
restricted  was  the  range  of  the  mountain-sheep  and  moun- 
tain-goat, each  inhabiting  the  Pacific  mountain-;  on  the 
Great  plains  roamed  the  bison  and  the  antelope,  the  former 
extending  from  the  central  Atlantic  seaboard  to  the  Snake 
River  plains,  and  the  latter  from  the  subarctic  forest  to  Mex- 
ico. The  mammalian  food  supply  was  mosl  abundant  in 
the  temperate  belt,  and  while  decreasing  northward,  declined 
more  rapidly  towards  the  south.  The  food  supply  furnished 
by  fishes  was  plentiful  wherever  water  was  present,  and  in 
superabundance  in  tidal  rivers  and  estuaries  both  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts;  hut  these  resources  fluctuated 
in  a  conspicuous  way  with  seasonal  changes,  owing  espe- 
cially to  the  annual  migrations  of  the  shad  and  salmon. 
Supplementing  the  highly  desirable  fish-food  "ii  the  ocean 


382  NORTH    AMERICA 

shores  were  the  molluscs,  and  especially  the  oyster  and  the 
clam.  The  rivers,  particularly  of  the  Mississippi  Basin,  sup- 
plied fresh-water  "  clams  "  ( Unios),  and  the  saline  and  alka- 
line lakes  of  the  arid  region,  inclusive  of  Mexico,  teemed  with 
the  larvae  of  insects,  which  were  utilized  for  food.  In  the 
Atlantic  and  Mississippi  region,  south  of  the  Great  Lakes  and 
extending  to  Central  America,  lived  the  wild  turkey;  the 
forests  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  the  vast  prairies, 
and  the  no  less  extensive  sage-brush  plains  to  the  westward 
were  inhabited  by  various  species  of  grouse;  the  land  east 
of  the  Pacific  mountains,  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  far  north- 
ward, was  darkened  by  immense  flights  of  pigeons;  the 
water  from  the  far  south  to  the  far  north,  throughout  the 
breadth  of  the  continent,  were  visited  by  large  numbers  of 
swans,  geese,  ducks,  and  other  water  birds.  In  a  con- 
spicuous way  the  feathered  hosts,  valuable  for  food,  were 
migratory,  thus  again  introducing  a  variable  quantity  into 
the  lives  of  the  aborigines. 

The  vegetable  food  of  the  Indian  tribes  that  did  not  prac- 
tise horticulture  varied  from  locality  to  locality,  and  in  the 
temperate  and  more  northern  regions  fluctuated  through  a 
wide  range  with  seasonal  changes.  Berries  were  abundant  in 
certain  regions  and  at  certain  seasons.  The  raspberry,  black- 
berry, huckleberry,  strawberry,  etc.,  of  many  varieties,  grew 
wild'  in  the  eastern  Mississippi  and  Atlantic  coast  regions. 
The  huckleberry  extended  from  the  northern  Atlantic  coast 
reeions  westward  across  the  continent  on  the  southern  bor- 
der  of  the  subarctic  forest,  and  reached  central  Alaska.  On 
the  coast  of  British  Columbia  and  Alaska  to  Mount  St.  Elias, 
salmon-berries,  wild  currants,  huckleberries,  and  strawber- 
ries flourished  with  marvellous  luxuriance  and  of  large  size. 
Wild  cherries  were  abundant  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  ex- 
tended to  the  Pacific  mountains.  Certain  small  plums  of 
value  for  food  occurred  widely  in  what  is  now  the  United 
States.  The  papaw  and  persimmon  thrived  in  the  southern 
portion  of  the  Atlantic  coast  region.  The  fruits  of  the 
cacti  yielded  refreshment  in  the  southwestern  States  and 
in  Mexico.  Throughout  all  the  hardwood  forests  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  region  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence 


THE    ABORIGINES  3S3 

a  large  variety  of  nut-bearing  trees,  such  as  the  walnut,  hick- 
ory, chestnut,  beechnut,  oak,  etc.,  were  in  great  abundance 
and  furnished  a  large  annual  food  supply.  In  the  northern 
portion  of  this  region  grew  the  maple,  the  saccharine  sap  of 
which  was  utilized  by  the  Indians  for  making  sugar.  In  the 
Pacific  mountains  south  of  Canada  grew  the  pinon,  per- 
haps of  all  the  trees  of  the  continent  the  species  that  yielded 
the  greatest  food  supply  to  the  Indians.  In  this  same  region, 
particularly  to  the  northward,  grew  the  small  lily-like  plant 
having  a  blue  flower,  known  as  the  camass,  the  bulbs  of 
which  are  highly  nutritious.  Both  the  pinon  and  the  cam- 
ass are  largely  utilized  even  at  the  present  day  for  food  by 
the  Indians.  In  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West 
Indies  a  large  number  of  tropical  fruits,  bulbs,  nuts,  etc., 
abound,  which  are  suitable  for  food,  and,  as  we  have  more 
or  less  direct  evidence,  were  utilized  by  the  Indians  of  that 
region  in  prehistoric  times.  The  period  of  harvest  at  the 
south  is  less  sharply  defined  than  in  temperate  latitudes 
and  the  natural  food  supply  subject  to  less  seasonal 
fluctuations. 

The  Indians  so  long  as  they  did  not  engage  in  agricul- 
ture— there  being  an  absence  of  anything  that  could  be 
termed  commerce,  and  even  the  transfer  of  food  and  other 
supplies  by  barter  being  restricted — were  obliged  to  move 
from  place  to  place,  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
abundance  furnished  in  certain  localities  and  at  certain  sea- 
sons. This  is  well  illustrated  at  the  present  day.  With  the 
comingf  of  the  salmon  in  the  rivers  of  the  northwest  Pacific 
coast  region  the  Indian  feasts  by  the  river-side;  when  the 
berries  ripen  in  the  valleys  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  he  is 
there,  together  with  the  bears,  to  profit  by  the  bounties  of 
nature:  in  Nevada  he  still  makes  journeys  to  the  pinon 
groves  in  (  >ctober;  and  in  the  subarctic  forest  he  accom- 
panies the  migration  of  the  caribou.  In  former  days  he  fol- 
lowed the  movements  of  the  herds  of  bison  on  the  Greal 

plateaus.    In  these  and  many  other  ways  the  t 1  ripply  of 

the  Indian  tended  to  establish  nomadic  customs,  and  as 
each  source  of  fuel  and  other  supplies  demanded  different 
methods  of  capturing  animals  or  different  utensils  for  gath- 


384  NORTH    AMERICA 

ering  seeds,  etc.,  variations  in  culture  development  was  a 
necessary  result.  The  duty  of  replenishing  the  general 
stores  was  shared  by  all,  but  there  was  no  definite  organiza- 
tion for  this  purpose,  and  certainly  nothing  worth  the  name 
of  business  management.  As  the  adage  is,  "  What  is  every 
one's  business  is  no  one's  business,"  and  for  this  reason  the 
Indian,  as  a  rule,  failed  to  lay  aside  a  sufficient  supply  of 
food  for  winter  use,  and  in  consequence  frequently  went 
hungry  and  not  infrequently  died  of  starvation. 

The  scarcity  of  the  spontaneous  food  supply  at  certain 
seasons  or  during  exceptional  years,  and  the  recurrence  of 
cold  or  rainy  seasons,  necessitating  shelter,  would  naturally 
lead  the  Indian  to  develop  in  two  important  directions, 
namely,  agriculture  and  architecture.  As  is  well  known, 
promising  advances  had  been  made  in  each  of  these 
arts,  when  indigenous  development  was  checked  and  to  a 
great  extent  killed  by  the  appearance  on  the  scene  and  subse- 
quent encroachments  of  peoples  from  over  the  sea. 

Horticulture. — Concerning  the  art  of  cultivating  plants 
for  food,  clothing,  utensils,  etc.,  practised  by  the  Indians 
before  the  coming  of  Europeans,  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  ac- 
curate information.  The  writings  of  Spanish  and  other 
explorers  who  first  visited  various  tribes  have  been  dili- 
gently searched  in  this  connection  by  students  of  Amer- 
ican history,  and  although  much  that  is  instructive  has  been 
discovered,  many  questions  remain  unanswered. 

The  principal  regions  where  cultivation  of  the  soil  was 
practised  in  pre-Columbian  times  are  situated  in  the  United 
States  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  east  of  the  Mississippi 
Vallev,  and  inclusive  of  the  lands  bordering  the  Great  Lakes 
on  the  south ;  also  much  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  and  the  West  Indies.  In  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  what  is  now  the  United  States  localities  naturally  de- 
void of  trees  were  cultivated  by  the  Indians,  and  partial 
clearings  were  made  in  the  vast  forest  by  deadening  the 
trees,  probably  by  girdling  or  cutting  the  bark  entirely 
around  their  trunks  with  stone  axes,  and  leaving  them  stand- 
ing. A  similar  process  was  employed  by  white  settlers  in 
later  years,  and  is  practised  even  at  the  present  day.    In  these 


THE    ABORIGINES  385 

partial  clearings,  from  which  the  underbrush  was  no  doubt 
burned,  gardens  of  maize,  melons,  pumpkins,  beans,  gourds, 
sunflowers,  potatoes,  tobacco,  and  perhaps  other  plants  were 
grown  without  irrigation.  Garden-beds,  as  they  are  termed, 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  forests  of  Michigan,  which,  as 
indicated  by  the  trees  growing  on  them,  are  older  than  the 
time  white  men  began  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  of  that  re- 
gion. In  the  arid  southwestern  portion  of  the  continent  and 
in  Central  America  gardens  were  cultivated  with  the  aid  of 
irrigation,  and  what  has  been  described  as  a  high  degree  of 
skill  in  horticulture  attained.  The  chief  products  of  these 
gardens  were  maize,  cotton,  tobacco,  beans,  melons,  cacao, 
bananas,  and  the  red  pepper.  Possibly  vanilla,  tomatoes,  and 
pumpkins  were  also  grown.  The  aloe  was  extensively  util- 
ized in  the  south,  but  whether  definitely  cultivated  or  not 
seems  uncertain. 

The  cultivation  of  fruit-trees  other  than  the  cacao,  which 
furnishes  the  seeds  from  which  chocolate  is  made,  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  carried  on,  although  certain  writers  imply 
that  native  trees  were  tended  and  given  greater  facility  for 
growth  by  removing  adjacent  plants.  It  is  stated  by  some 
authors  that  in  the  region  to  the  eastward  of  the  Mississippi 
the  Chickasaw  plum  is  now  found  growing  in  clearings  that 
were  abandoned  by  the  Indians  and  not  elsewhere,  and  the 
inference  is  that  it  was  formerly  cultivated.  Asa  Gray  men- 
tions, however,  that  this  species  is  probably  not  indigenous. 

Of  domesticated  mammals  none  are  known  to  have  been 
possessed  by  the  Indians  except  the  dog,  which  it  is  pre- 
sumed was  derived  from  one  or  more  species  of  the  native 
wolf,  and  was  used  to  carry  <  >r  draw  burdens,  served  also  for 
food,  and  furnished  skins  for  clothing  and  hair  for  weav- 
ing cloth.  The  turkey  was  domesticated  by  the  A/tecs  and 
the  village  Indians  of  the  New  Mexico  region;  among  the 
latter,  even  at  the  present  daw  eagles  are  confined  in  cages 
and  plucked  for  feathers.  There  is  seemingly  no  doubt  hut 
that  in  pre-Columbian,  as  in  re  rent  years,  the  young  of  wild 
animal-  were  captured  by  the  Indians  and  reared  as  pets, 
which  in  time-  of  necessity  probably  served  for  food;  hut 
there  are  no  records  of  definite  attempts  to  domesticate  the 


386  NORTH    AMERICA 

bison,  mountain-sheep,  mountain-goat,  or  the  peccary  of  the 
Gulf  coast  and  Central  America.  In  the  attractive  accounts 
that  have  appeared  in  recent  years  concerning  the  grandeur 
of  the  Aztecs  mention  is  made  of  extensive  menageries,  but 
even  the  most  poetic  of  historians  has  not  assigned  to  the 
tribes  of  that  confederation  flocks  and  herds.  The  llama 
and  the  paco  or  alpaca,  although  reared  extensively  by  the 
Incas  of  Peru,  are  not  certainly  known  to  have  been  intro- 
duced into  North  America. 

To  the  eastward  of  the  Mississippi,  where  numerous 
earthworks  bear  testimony  of  an  early  settlement  by  aborigi- 
nes, heavy  forests,  the  severity  of  the  winter  climate,  and 
wide  variations  in  summer  rains  combined  to  make  the  natu- 
ral conditions  to  a  marked  degree  adverse  to  aboriginal  de- 
velopment. In  Central  America,  and  the  West  Indies 
generally,  the  exuberance  of  vegetable  growth  is  such  as 
almost  to  defy  the  clearing  of  land  by  people  provided  only 
with  stone  or  copper  utensils.  Between  these  two  regions, 
in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  continent,  are  the  arid 
lands,  where,  when  once  the  idea  of  irrigation  was  embraced, 
the  conditions  favouring  a  sedentary  life,  with  agriculture 
as  a  basis,  are  far  more  auspicious  than  elsewhere.  The 
land  is  there  treeless,  the  indigenous  plants  are  easily  killed 
by  fire  and  by  irrigation,  the  soil  is  rich,  intense  sunshine 
favours  plant  growth,  and  the  gathering  of  harvests  is  not 
delayed  or  the  efforts  of  industry  rendered  abortive  by  rain. 
Of  all  portions  of  the  continent,  this  is  the  one  where  resist- 
ance to  human  development  is  least,  providing  man's  ideas 
are  sufficiently  advanced  to  permit  him  to  grasp  and  put  in 
practise  the  art  of  irrigation.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  Indian  there  first  began  to  build  permanent  homes  and  to 
cultivate  the  soil.  This  hypothesis  is  sustained  in  part  by 
historical  evidence,  and  in  part  by  the  ruins  of  ancient  vil- 
lages or  communal  houses,  irrigation,  ditches,  etc.  From  this 
centre  it  may  be  presumed,  in  the  absence  of  definite  proof, 
that  the  art  of  horticulture  spread  to  Central  America  and 
the  Mississippi  Valley. 

In  spite  of  the  glowing  accounts  given  by  certain  his- 
torians concerning  the  high  degree  of  skill  in  agriculture 


THE    ABORIGINES  3S7 

attained  by  the  aborigines  of  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
and  the  extent  of  their  plantations,  a  conservative  balancing 
of  the  evidence  indicates  that  they  never  advanced  beyond 
the  stage  of  gardening,  and  that  held  agriculture,  the  cul- 
tivation of  orchards,  and  the  domestication  of  mammals 
was  practically  unknown  to  them. 

Houses. — The  houses  of  the  primitive  Indians,  owing  to 
the  various  stages  in  culture  attained  by  different  tribes  and 
differences  in  climatic  conditions,  showed  a  wide  range  in 
material  used  and  in  the  results  obtained.  The  shelters  of 
the  wandering  tribes  and  of  the  village  Indians  during  their 
journeys  were  usually  some  form  of  tent,  either  composed 
wholly  of  boughs  or  of  a  framework  of  sticks  over  which 
skins  were  spread  and  secured  by  thongs.  The  typical  wig- 
wam consisted  of  a  number  of  poles  from  15  to  18  feet  long, 
lashed  together  at  the  top  and  arranged  in  a  circle  some  10 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  on  which  a  covering  of  skins, 
bark,  or  mats  was  spread,  leaving  an  opening  at  the  top  for 
the  escape  of  smoke  from  a  small  fire  placed  on  the  ground 
within.  At  the  top  a  wing-like  extension  of  the  covering 
was  frequently  provided  which  could  be  adjusted  to  the 
direction  of  the  wind.  An  opening  on  one  side,  protected 
by  a  curtain  of  skin,  or  closed  by  drawing  the  covering 
together,  served  as  a  door.  A  modification  of  this  genuine 
Indian  lodge,  or  tepee,  in  which  cotton  cloth  is  substituted 
for  the  primitive  covering,  may  be  seen  over  a  wide  extent 
of  the  country  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi  at  the  present 
day  (Fig.  36). 

A  step  higher  than  the  usually  circular  lodge  of  boughs, 
etc.,  in  use  principally  among  the  Indians  to  the  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  was  furnished  by  the  bark  houses  of  the  north- 
eastern tribes,  as  those  of  Xew  York,  in  which  a  rectangular 
frame  of  poles  with  an  arched  or  triangular  roof  was  cov- 
ered with  bark,  usually  of  the  elm,  tied  to  the  inner  frame 
and  held  also  by  an  external  frame  of  poles,  the  two  frames 
being  lashed  firmly  together.  This,  the  celebrated  "long 
house"  of  the  Iroquois,  like  most  Indian  houses,  was  de- 
signed to  accommodate  a  number  of  families,  and  may  In- 
said  to  have  consisted  ol  several  houses  placed  end  to  end 


388  NORTH    AMERICA 

with  a  common  passageway  running  through  them.  Fires 
were  lighted  in  this  passageway,  one  for  each  family,  and 
the  smoke  allowed  to  escape  through  openings  in  the  roof. 
One  of  these  bark  houses  is  described  by  an  early  traveller 
as  being  80  feet  long,  17  feet  wide,  and  with  a  common  pas- 
sageway 6  feet  wide  running  through  its  length,  on  each 
side  of  which  were  apartments  5  feet  square.  Smaller 
houses,  usually  for  the  use  of  a  few  families,  were  also  built. 
The  larger  ones,  as  was  common  in  many  Indian  villages, 
were  occupied  both  as  dwellings  and  for  general  assemblies. 
These  houses  were  grouped  in  villages,  about  which  pali- 
sades, consisting  of  poles  planted  in  the  ground,  were  fre- 
quently built,  and  in  at  least  one  instance  a  ditch  filled 
with  water  was  used  on  the  outside  of  the  palisade  to  in- 
crease their  security  against  attack. 

The  feature  of  special  interest  concerning  the  houses 
of  the  American  aborigines,  inclusive  of  the  Eskimos,  is  that 
they  were  usually  occupied  by  a  number  of  families.  This 
communal  idea  runs  through  all  the  indigenous  American 
architecture.  As  remarked  by  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  one  of 
the  most  judicious  students  of  American  ethnology,  "the 
house  for  a  single  family  was  exceptional  throughout  abo- 
riginal America,  while  the  house  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date several  families  was  the  rule.  Moreover,  they  were 
occupied  as  joint  tenement  houses.  There  was  also  a  tend- 
ency to  form  these  households  on  the  principle  of  gentile 
kin,  the  mothers  with  their  children  being  of  the  same  gens 
or  clan." 

The  idea  of  the  joint  tenement-house,  as  has  been  clearly 
sliown  by  Morgan,  illustrated  by  the  bark  cabins  of  the  Iro- 
quois, finds  its  most  striking  expression  in  the  communal 
houses,  or  pueblos,  of  the  village  Indians  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  and  in  the  abandoned  stone  houses  of  Central 
America.  In  the  arid  southwestern  portion  of  the  continent 
certain  tribes,  termed  the  Pueblo  Indians,  are  still  living  in 
the  villages  they  occupied  when  first  visited  by  Spanish  ex- 
plorers (1640).  On  account  of  their  exclusiveness  and  the 
isolation  of  their  villages  in  an  immense  desert  region  they 
have  been  but  slightly  modified,  so  far  as  their  home  life  is 


THE    ABORIGINES  389 

concerned,  even  at  the  present  day,  by  contact  with  white 
men.  The  hot  desert  has  shielded  these  people  in  much  the 
same  manner  that  the  frozen  tundra  has  served  to  preserve 
the  purity  of  the  Eskimo. 

The  homes  of  Pueblo  Indians,  as  described  by  Morgan, 
are  immense  tenement-houses,  built  of  stone  and  adobe,  fre- 
quently occupying  several  acres  of  ground,  and  from  I  to  6 
or  7  stories  high.  The  number  of  inhabitants  at  Zuhi,  one 
of  the  most  typical  of  these  pueblo  towns,  is  stated  to  have 
been  1.500  in  185 1,  but  to  have  previously  included  some 
5,000  souls.  The  adobe,  of  which  the  houses  are  largely 
constructed,  is  the  soil  of  the  region,  which  when  mixed  with 
water  and  allowed  to  dry  becomes  sufficiently  hard  to  re- 
tain indefinitely  in  an  arid  climate  the  form  given  to  it.  The 
soil  is  formed  into  bricks,  and  also  used  as  a  mortar  to  unite 
rough  stones.  Although  much  stone  was  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  pueblos,  it  was  roughly  dressed  by  ham- 
mering, or  not  changed  at  all  from  its  natural  condition,  and 
regularly  cut  and  carved  stones  do  not  occur  in  the  buildings. 
The  pueblos  were  built  in  successive  terraces,  usually  either 
in  a  semicircle  or  on  three  sides  of  a  rectangle,  the  open  side 
being  protected  by  a  wall.  Irregular  forms  are  also  known, 
the  general  plan  being  adapted  to  the  natural  condition  of 
the  site  chosen.  In  certain  instances  the  structures  were 
placed  on  elevations  where  a  high  degree  of  safety  was  in- 
sured, but  others  are  on  the  open  plain  and  even  at  the  base 
of  a  commanding  eminence,  and  near  enough  to  be  reached 
by  arrows  shot  from  a  bow.  Protection  against  enemies 
was  increased  by  an  absence  of  openings  in  the  exterior 
walls,  except  at  a  considerable  height  above  the  ground; 
ingress  and  communication  from  terrace  to  terrace  being  by 
means  of  ladders,  which  were  drawn  up  or  their  steps  re- 
moved in  times  of  danger.  The  roofs  of  the  pueblos,  as 
may  be  seen  at  Zuni  at  the  presenl  day.  are  Hat  ami  consist 
of  poles  c<  -  ered  with  adobe. 

The  controlling  ideas  in  the  construction  of  the  pueblos 

seems  to  have  been  communal  residence  and  defence.     Hie 

houses  arc  at  the  same  time  tenements  and  Fortresses.      \ 

characteristic  feature  of  these,  as  of  practically  all  Indian 

26 


39°  NORTH    AMERICA 

villages,  is  the  presence  of  one  or  more  assembly  rooms,  and 
of  open  courts  or  plazas,  where  the  people  gathered  for 
council,  worship,  amusement,  etc. 

When  white  men  first  visited  the  Pueblo  Indians  they 
cultivated  gardens  with  the  aid  of  irrigation  in  which  maize, 
mostly  of  a  blue  colour,  was  the  principal  crop,  and  had 
domesticated  the  turkey;  earthen  vessels  of  large  size,  fre- 
quently elaborately  and  pleasingly  decorated,  were  manu- 
factured ;  cotton  fabrics  were  woven  of  spun  threads,  and 
the  men  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  and  shields ; 
clothing  was  made  of  dressed  deerskins,  buffalo-robes,  and 
cotton  cloth  usually  dyed  dark  blue.  The  descriptions  of 
the  Pueblo  Indians  given  by  the  first  visitors  from  civilized 
peoples  would,  to  a  great  extent,  apply  to  them  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  although  in  reality  their  lives  have  been  profoundly 
modified  and  their  indigenous  development  checked. 

Throughout  a  wide  extent  of  the  arid  southwest  the  ruins 
of  ancient  pueblos,  irrigation  canals,  remnants  of  pottery, 
the  latter  frequently  marking  village  sites  on  isolated  emi- 
nences, bear  witness  of  a  formerly  widely  spread  people. 
This  evidence  shows  also  that  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
tribes  have  inhabited  the  same  territory  for  a  great  length 
of  time.  In  this  same  general  region  are  found  the  houses 
of  the  cliff-dwellers,  who  excavated  rooms  in  the  faces  of 
precipices,  frequently  high  above  their  bases  and  only  ac- 
cessible by  means  of  holes,  serving  as  steps,  cut  in  the  rock, 
or  with  the  aid  of  ladders.  In  many  instances  these  ancient 
cliff-dwellers,  of  which  no  certain  descendants  remain,  took 
advantage  of  natural  caverns,  or  of  overhanging  ledges, 
which  were  closed  by  means  of  walls  of  rough  stone  and 
adobe. 

The  pueblo  dwellings,  built  largely  of  adobe,  are  stated 
by  ethnologists  to  have  extended  southward  into  Mexico, 
and  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  houses  in  which  the  Aztecs 
lived,  but  the  highest  type  of  aboriginal  architecture  in  Amer- 
ica is  furnished  by  the  dwellings  and  so-called  temples,  pal- 
aces, etc.,  still  standing  in  Yucatan  and  other  portions  of 
Central  America.  In  these  ruins  we  have  abundant  example 
of  buildings  made  of  cut  stone,  laid  in  regular  and  even 


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392 


NORTH    AMERICA 


courses,  united  with  mortar  composed  of  burned  lime  and 
sand,  and  elaborately  sculptured  in  bas-relief  and  in  the 
round,  or  covered  with  designs  moulded  in  stucco.     In  size 


Fig.  38. — Examples  of  Maya  Arches.     After  W.  H.  Holmes. 

a.  Section  of  cuneiform  arch  with  acute  apex,  Chichen-Itza. 

b.  Section  of  ordinary  arch  with  fiat  capstone. 

c.  Section  of  ordinary  arch  with  dressed  surfaces. 

d.  Section  of  ordinary  arch  with  dressed  surfaces  and  curved  soffit  slopes. 

e.  Portal  arch  with  long  slopes,  showing  masonry  of  exterior  facing. 

f.  Section  of  trefoil,  portal  arch  of  Palenque. 

and  proportions  these  unique  structures  are  impressive.  The 
so-called  Governor's  Palace  at  Uxmal,  Yucatan,  is  320  feet 
long,  40  feet  wide,  and  25  to  26  feet  high,  and  surmounts  an 
artificially  constructed  platform  of  earth  35  feet  high  and 


THE    ABORIGINES  393 

approximately  550  feet  square.  This  platform  is  terraced 
and  provided  with  broad  flights  of  stone  steps  (Fig.  37). 
These  dimensions  will  serve  to  render  more  instructive  the 
accompanying  sketch  of  the  principal  ruins  at  Uxmal  by 
W.  H.  Holmes. 

Mere  size  and  their  great  number  are  not  the  significant 
features  of  these  ruins.  They  are  well  built,  of  cut  stone, 
and  most  elaborately  decorated,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  ac- 
companying reproduction  of  a  photograph  of  a  typical  ex- 
ample. In  reference  to  the  skill  displayed  by  the  unknown 
architects  and  builders,  Holmes,  one  of  the  most  recent  as 
well  as  the  most  critical  of  Central  American  travellers, 
remarks  as  follows: 

"  The  stone  used  is  the  pale-yellowish  and  reddish-gray, 
obscurely  marbled  limestone  of  the  locality.  .  .  .  The  fa- 
cings and  ornaments  are  all  cut  and  sculptured  with  a  mas- 
terly handling  not  surpassed  where  chisels,  picks,  and  ham- 
mers of  iron  and  steel  are  used,  and  the  faces  and  contact 
margins  are  hewn  with  perfect  precision.  Though  the  finish 
of  the  surfaces  was  often  secured  by  means  of  abrasion  or 
grinding,  picking  or  pecking  were  the  main  agents  employed, 
and  the  indents  of  the  tools  are  often  apparent  and  wonder- 
fully fresh-looking.  The  stones  were  set  in  mortar,  although 
in  many  cases  the  joints  are  so  perfect  that  the  mortar  does 
not  appear  on  the  surface." 

The  extensive  ruins  of  Uxmal,  although  only  a  part  of 
the  treasures  concealed  in  the  forests  of  Central  America, 
express  with  an  eloquence  not  as  yet  fully  appreciated  the 
advanced  stage  of  culture  and  refinement  attained  in  Amer- 
ica from  the  growth  of  indigenous  ideas.  Some  of  the 
special  features  illustrated  by  them  from  which  the  degree 
of  mental  development  of  their  builders  can  be  judged  is  tin- 
presence  of  the  wedge-shaped  but  not  of  the  true  arch.  The 
character  of  the  simplest  and  perhaps  the  firsl  style  of  arch 
constructed  by  the  awakening  peoples  in  many  lands  are 
shown  in  the  accompanying  sketches,  borrowed  from 
Holmes's  mosl  instructi1  e  report.  ( lolumns,  both  square  and 
round,  wer<-  used,  and  statues  both  in  bas-relief  and  in  the 
round  are  common.    The  designs,  whether  of  animals,  gro- 


394  NORTH    AMERICA 

tesque  monsters,  feathers,  or  plants,  are  in  strong  relief, 
either  cut  in  stone  or  moulded  in  stucco.  These  designs  are 
not  confined  to  single  stones,  but  embrace  several  blocks, 
and  together  with  the  diaper  fretwork  extend  the  entire 
length  of  even  the  larger  structures.  Accompanying  the 
well-wrought  figures  of  men,  and  at  times  forming  sepa- 
rate inscriptions,  are  many  hieroglyphics,  the  meanings  of 
which  are  still  unknown.  All  or  nearly  all  of  the  structures 
stand  on  artificial  platforms,  which  are  terraced.  A  ter- 
raced pyramid,  with  a  broad  flight  of  steps  on  one  or  more 
sides,  surmounted  by  a  well-proportioned  rectangular  build- 
ing, faced  with  cut  stone,  highly  decorated,  and  with  a  flat 
roof,  are  the  larger  features  of  the  Maya  ruins. 

All  of  this  and  more,  as  can  be  read  in  the  elaborately 
illustrated  books  of  Stephens,  Holmes,  and  others,  shows 
that  the  Maya  people,  at  the  time  they  were  crushed  by  the 
more  than  cruel  Spanish  invasion,  had  reached  a  stage  in 
their  development  but  little  short  of  true  civilization. 

Ethnological  Studies. — The  native  dress  of  the  Indians, 
their  boats,  ornaments,  and  still  more  their  customs,  sys- 
tems of  government,  religions,  myths,  traditions,  etc.,  offer 
attractive  subjects  for  study,  which  are  being  earnestly  pur- 
sued by  many  students  at  the  present  time.  The  closing 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  a  true  awakening 

Fig.  39. — This  very  handsome  and  elaborate  piece  of  work  is  a  section 
of  the  embellished  entablature  zone  of  the  palace.  The  height  from  the 
lower  or  medial  moulding  below  to  the  coping  course  above  is  about  10 
feet.  The  entire  length,  covering  the  four  walls  of  the  building,  is  some 
725  feet.  If  we  allow  that  the  stones  employed  average  6  by  12  inches  in 
surface  dimensions,  this  deeply  coffered  and  relieved  mosaic  would  com- 
prise upward  of  20,000  pieces,  all  specially  cut  and  a  large  percentage 
elaborately  sculptured.  Two  plain  coping  courses  are  seen  at  the  top, 
followed  by  a  twined  fillet  moulding,  while  under  this  is  a  line  of  very 
ornate  snouted  masks.  The  broad  space  below  is  filled  with  bold  fret- 
work, set  on  a  lattice  ground  and  interrupted  by  the  wonderful  overdoor 
trophy,  the  central  feature  of  which  is  a  human  figure,  fully  life  size, 
sculptured  in  the  round  and  seated  in  a  niche  with  festooned  base.  The 
head  [now  displaced]  was  surrounded  by  an  elaborate  and  colossal  head- 
dress, most  of  which  remains.  The  horizontal  bars  terminating  in  ser- 
pent heads  at  both  ends  are  separated  by  lines  of  hieroglyphs. —  IV.  H. 
Ho  hues. 


I  i  — Si  ul [•'  ired    I    ■  ■  '       I   I  i 


THE    ABORIGINES  395 

of  the  white  people  of  America  to  an  interest  in  the  many 
relics  of  ancient  earthworks,  buildings,  utensils,  etc.,  found 
throughout  the  continent,  and  a  healthy  growth  of  an  earnest 
desire  to  record  all  that  can  be  learned  concerning  the  repre- 
sentatives still  remaining  of  the  vanished  peoples  to  whom 
they  pertain. 

In  the  van  of  this  important  work  is  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Important  work  has 
also  been  carried  on  by  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology, 
situated  at  Cambridge,  and  more  recently  has  been  taken 
up  in  an  energetic  manner  by  the  American  Museum  in  New 
York  and  the  Field  Columbian  Museum  at  Chicago.  The 
National  Museum  of  Mexico  has  assembled  rich  stores  of 
archaeological  and  ethnological  material  pertaining  to  the 
native  races  of  Mexico,  and  the  Mexican  Government  is 
doing  much  to  preserve  the  priceless  prehistoric  monuments 
of  the  republic  from  vandalism.  There  are  also  many  pri- 
vate antiquarian  collections  and  many  individual  students 
who  are  doing  good  work  along  their  chosen  historic,  lin- 
guistic, and  other  branches  of  research.  One  phase  of  this 
work,  particularly  in  reference  to  ancient  earthworks,  build- 
ings, and  also  the  observations  of  early  travellers,  mission- 
aries, explorers,  etc.,  is  the  removal  of  the  incrustation  of 
romance,  and  in  part  of  fable,  that  has  been  formed  about 
them.  As  shown  by  \Y.  H.  Holmes,  in  reference  to  many 
reputed  finds  of  the  relics  of  men  in  various  glacial  and 
other  deposits;  by  W.  H.  Henshaw,  in  respect  to  certain 
animal  carvings;  by  Cyrus  Thomas,  in  the  case  of  the  earth- 
work of  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States;  by  L.  II.  Mor- 
gan, in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  Mexican  and  Cen- 
tral American  aborigines  and  other  similar  examples,  imag- 
ination has  only  too  frequently  taken  the  place  of  critical 
study  and  hasty  generalizations  have  been  given  publicity. 
It  is  perhaps  not  too  strong  a  statement  to  say  that  the  fas- 
cinating histories  pertaining  to  Mexico  and  Central  Amer 
ica,  written  by  Irving.  Prescott,  and  Bancroft,  need  to  be 
thoroughly  revised  and  rewritten  from  the  standpoinl  oi  the 
scientific  ethnologist.  This  clearing  of  the  field  of  an  under- 
brush of  fancy  is  as  necessary  a-  the  work  o\  the  axe  or 


396  NORTH    AMERICA 

machete  in  removing  the  vegetable  growths  that  conceal 
many  of  the  records  of  America's  history. 

The  Contact  of  the  Aborigines  with  Foreign  Peoples. — 
The  chief  interest  of  the  ethnologist  concerning  the  Ameri- 
can aborigines  relates  to  their  condition  before  the  intro- 
duction of  European  ideas  and  customs.  This  external  in- 
fluence has  been  far-reaching  and  cumulative  in  its  effects, 
and  to-day  there  is  not  a  tribe  in  North  America  that  stands 
where  it  would  have  stood  but  for  its  coming.  Among 
some  of  the  Eskimo  tribes,  and  in  the  case  also  of  certain 
Indian  communities  in  central  Alaska  and  northern  Can- 
ada, there  have  been  but  slight  modifications  even  in 
dress,  utensils,  etc.,  by  reason  of  contact  with  the  white  man. 
The  Pueblo  Indians  have  been  resistant  to  change,  but 
although  still  grinding  their  blue  corn  in  primitive  stone 
hand-mills,  and  dressed  nearly  as  the  first  Spanish  visitors 
found  their  ancestors  in  the  same  villages,  there  has  been 
a  slowly  progressing  revolution  in  the  undercurrent  of 
their  thought,  ideas,  religion,  customs,  etc.  Whether  this 
change  is  for  the  better  or  the  worse  depends  on  the  point 
of  view.  In  attempting  to  judge  of  it  from  the  Indian's 
side,  the  only  possible  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  the 
coming  of  the  white  man  has  been  a  curse. 

The  reception  of  Europeans  by  the  Indian,  although  in 
many  instances  kindly,  has,  in  the  main,  been  but  an  outward 
show  of  friendship,  concealing  suspicion,  fear,  and  jealousy. 
That  this  distrust  was  well  founded  is  abundantly  proved  by 
history.  Since  the  slaughter  and  enslavement  of  the  abo- 
rigines of  the  West  Indies  and  of  the  southern  portion  of  the 
continent  by  Spaniards,  through  all  the  bloody  conflicts  of 
the  English  and  French  with  the  Indians  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Mississippi  regions,  to  near  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  almost  constant  war,  marauding,  murder,  rapine, 
and  jealousy  have  accompanied  the  contact  of  the  aborig- 
ines and  the  whites.  Although  the  Indians  succeeded  in 
retarding  the  spread  of  civilization,  they  were  not  strong 
enough  to  permanently  check  it.  In  the  United  States  and 
Canada  they  have  been,  to  a  great  extent,  dispossessed  of 
their  hunting-grounds  by  so-called  treaties,  or  by  formal  pur- 


THE    ABORIGINES  397 

chase,  and  placed  on  reservations.  In  Mexico  the  struggle 
is  still  in  active  progress,  but  there  and  in  Central  America 
and  the  West  Indies  the  contact  of  the  two  races  has  in  part 
assumed  a  different  phase,  and  one  less  visibly  detrimental 
to  the  Indian.  In  the  countries  now  held  by  people  of  Span- 
ish descent,  and  in  fact  throughout  Latin  America,  as  it  is 
termed,  amalgamation  has,  to  a  great  extent,  caused  the 
disappearance  of  the  Indian  race  in  its  purity.  North  of  the 
indefinite  boundary  where  the  Spanish  language  is  largely 
spoken  much  less  admixture  of  the  two  races  has  occurred 
than  farther  south,  and  the  half-breed  is  classed  as  an  Indian. 
While  to  the  north  of  Mexico  it  is  possible  to  trace  the  post- 
Columbian  histories  of  the  Indian  tribes  with  an  approach  to 
completeness  and  to  state  their  present  census,  and  note  the 
results  of  the  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  civilize  them, 
to  the  south  of  the  Mexican  boundary  such  a  task  is  seem- 
ingly hopeless. 

In  Alaska  the  Indians  still  roam  at  large  with  no  other 
restraint  than  that  arising  from  the  adjustment  reached 
through  intertribal  relations,  with  slight  modifications  due 
to  the  widely  scattered  settlements  of  white  men.  Xo  at- 
tempt has  been  made  by  the  United  States  Government  to 
place  them  on  reservations,  and  this  will  probably  nut  occur, 
as  the  white  man  does  not  wish  their  lands  for  agricultural 
purposes.  Displacement  by  contact  seems  to  express  the 
change  now  in  progress. 

In  Canada  the  present  condition  of  the  Indians  varies 
with  locality.  In  the  southeastern  part,  including  the  mari- 
time provinces,  they  have  been  greatly  changed  from  their 
native  condition,  and  to  a  large  extent  gathered  on  reserva- 
tions <>r  have  settled  on  land  of  their  own  and  become  --elf- 
sustaining.  In  the  Labrador  region  and  throughout  the 
Rocky  Mountains  they  still  roam  at  will,  and  depend  mainly 
on  hunting  and  fishing  for  a  livelihood.  On  the  Pacific 
coast,  the  I  [aidas,  etc..  of  British  <  blumbia — and  the  same  is 
true  of  their  neighbours,  the  Tlingits  i  if  s<  iuthea  stern  Alaska 
— have  beo  >me  interested  as  labourers  in  the  commercial  fish- 
eries, principally  the  salmon  industry. 

The   Canadian    Governmenl    has    purchased    i 


39§  NORTH    AMERICA 

tracts  of  land  from  the  Indians,  and  the  purchase  money, 
together  with  the  returns  from  the  sale  of  relinquished  lands, 
etc.,  amounting-  in  1900  to  $3,893,623,  is  held  in  trust  for 
their  benefit.  The  interest  on  this  sum,  together  with  ap- 
propriations made  by  the  Government  for  the  support,  edu- 
cation, etc.,  of  the  Indians,  amounted  during  the  year  1900 
to  $1,309,127.  The  total — in  part  estimated — Indian  popu- 
lation of  Canada  is  about  99,000,  and  those  classed  as  resi- 
dent Indians  number  77,450.  The  last-named  during  the 
year  1900  cultivated  108,850  acres  of  land;  owned  83,019 
head  of  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  etc. ;  cut  68,395  tons  of  hay ; 
gathered  471,596  bushels  of  potatoes  and  other  root  crops, 
besides  an  output  of  $1,639,398  worth  of  fish,  furs,  etc. 
During  the  same  year  9,634  Indian  children  attended  indus- 
trial schools.  This  is  certainly  a  creditable  report  and  one 
encouraging  to  the  hope  that  all  the  Indians  in  Canada  will 
in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  become  civilized,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  Indians  outside  of  the  reservations  and 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  treaty  lands  still  roam  at  large  and 
to  a  great  extent  are  in  a  deplorable  condition. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  aborigines  within  her  borders 
Canada  has  to  a  marked  degree  been  both  humane  and  just. 
Her  policy  in  this  connection  is  largely  an  inheritance  from 
that  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  whose  success  in  trade 
depended  on  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  the  native 
peoples.  The  work  of  the  factors  of  "  the  Great  Company  " 
scattered  throughout  Canada  and  carried  on  continuously 
for  more  than  two  centuries  did  much  to  prepare  the  aborigi- 
nes for  civil  government.  Owing  largely,  also,  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  mounted  police  of  Canada  much  less  trouble 
has  been  experienced  in  the  management  of  the  Indians  of 
that  country  than  has  been  the  case  in  the  adjacent  portion 
of  the  United  States.  In  any  comparison,  however,  of  the 
relation  of  the  Canadian  and  United  States  governments  to 
the  aborigines  within  their  respective  borders  account  needs 
to  be  taken  of  the  widely  different  conditions  on  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  boundary-line  between  them.  Xot  only  are  the 
Indians  of  Canada  about  one-third  as  numerous  as  in  the 
United  States,  while  the  area  of  each  country  is  about  the 


THE    ABORIGINES  399 

same,  but  owing  to  a  less  dense  white  population  to  the 
north  of  the  international  boundary,  far  less  demand  has 
there  arisen  for  their  lands  for  agricultural,  mining,  and 
other  purposes  than  in  the  United  States. 

The  Indian  problem  within  the  United  States  has  been 
a  most  serious  one,  and  is  still  a  severe  tax  on  the  nation. 
The  union  of  the  colonies  and  the  final  separation  from  the 
mother  country  left  the  United  States  with  an  immense 
western  frontier,  extending  in  an  irregular  way  from  north  to 
south  through  the  trackless  forests  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
As  the  nation  grew  in  strength  this  frontier  was  pressed  far- 
ther and  farther  westward,  while  settlements  established 
on  the  Pacific  coast  presented  a  frontier  to  the  east- 
ward. These  two  inundations  of  civilization,  crude,  but 
virile  and  aggressive,  approached  each  other  and  en- 
tered the  passes  in  the  mountains  separating  them. 
Between  the  two  were  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  In- 
dians, but  the  advance  of  the  whites  was  irregular  and 
the  outposts  of  civilization  were  in  the  Indian  country. 
In  1867  the  buildings  of  the  first  of  the  transconti- 
nental railroads  divided  the  region  roamed  over  by  savage 
tribes.  Railroads  continued  to  be  built,  and  presently  there 
was  no  frontier.  In  a  later  stage  in  this  process  of  subduing 
a  continent  it  became  imperative  that  the  mure  hostile  and 
treacherous  Indian  tribes  should  be  either  exterminated  or 
segregated  and  confined  to  definite  regions,  where  they 
could  be  tinder  military  surveillance.  Many  treaties  were 
made  between  the  United  States  and  the  Indians,  and  by 
this  means  and  by  force  the  original  occupants  of  the  land 
were  placed  on  reservations.  The  aim  of  the  <  rovernment,  it 
must  be  conceded,  has  during  the  past  fifty  years  or  more 
been  humane,  but  in  many  instances  treaties  have  been  unful- 
filled, and  individuals  in  authority  have  proved  incompetent, 
unfaithful,  and  dishonest.  In  judging  of  the  dealings  of  the 
white  man  with  the  Indian,  it  musl  In-  remembered  that  the 
problem  was  highly  complex  and  in  certain  ways  of  such  a 
nature  that  no  result  just  to  each  party  was  practicable.  (  hi 
one  hand,  the  rights  of  the  Indian  to  the  land  they  inherited 

from  their  ancestors  was  to  he  recognised,  but  a  larger 


400  NORTH    AMERICA 

interest,  the  march  of  civilization,  had  also  to  be  encouraged. 
The  good  of  humanity  demanded  that  the  barbarian,  roam- 
ing over  broad  lands  of  which  he  made  no  use  except  for 
hunting,  should  give  place  to  more  enlightened  people,  who 
wished  to  cultivate  the  soil  and  make  it  support  thousands 
of  individuals,  where  before  only  a  few  hundred  could  find 
sustenance.  The  history  pertaining  to  so  many  countries, 
where  civilized  peoples  have  displaced  races  in  the  lower 
stages  of  culture,  was  here  repeated.  The  main  issue  was  the 
same,  only  the  details  differ.  In  the  struggle  between  the 
white  and  the  red  man  it  became  evident  that  the  latter  must 
yield,  assume  habits  of  industry,  and  earn  his  bread  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow  or  be  exterminated.  It  may  be  said 
that  neither  of  these  seemingly  inevitable  results  has  oc- 
curred ;  the  Indian  has  not  been  exterminated,  and  possibly 
not  seriously  reduced  in  numbers,  and  to  a  great  extent  is 
not  self-supporting.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  this  is  but 
a  transient  stage,  resulting  from  the  reservation  system.  In 
a  large  number  of  instances  the  lands  formerly  occupied  by 
the  Indians  have  been  purchased  from  them  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  thrown  open  to  settlement  by  white  people.  The 
money  due  for  these  purchases  has  in  several  instances  been 
paid  to  the  Indians,  either  as  tribes  or  individually,  while  in 
other  cases  it  is  still  held  in  trust  by  the  Government,  and 
the  interest  on  it  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  original  occu- 
pants of  the  land. 

The  United  States  Government  by  treaty  with  certain  of 
the  tribes,  as  the  Sioux,  for  example,  has  agreed  to  pay  defi- 
nite annuities  and  issue  to  each  individual  a  certain  amount 
of  clothing  and  food  each  year.  Other  tribes  placed  on 
reservations  were  also  granted  clothing  and  food  sufficient 
to  keep  them  from  want,  although  no  agreement  to  that 
effect  was  entered  into,  the  theory  of  the  Government 
being  that  the  Indians  deprived  of  their  hunting-grounds 
should  receive  aid  until  they  could  adopt  the  ways  of  civ- 
ilized men  sufficiently  to  be  self-supporting.  The  num- 
ber of  Indians  assisted  in  this  way  each  year  during  the 
past  decade  has  been  about  85,000.  The  food  issued,  usually 
twice  a  month,  consists  of  meat,  either  beef  or  its  equivalent 


THE    ABORIGINES  401 

in  bacon,  flour,  coffee,  and  sugar.  The  ration  supplied  each 
individual  is  sufficient  to  maintain  a  person,  or  at  least  keep 
him  from  starving,  but  is  not  intended  to  meet  all  his  wants. 
The  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Government  that  want  should 
compel  the  Indian  to  work,  has  been  still  further  pressed  by 
a  gradual  decrease  in  the  ration  issued  in  certain  instances 
where  definite  agreement  has  not  been  made  and  where  a 
tendency  to  self-support  is  manifest.  In  general,  however, 
this  assistance,  instead  of  stimulating  industry,  and,  as  would 
seem  natural,  gradually  leading  the  recipient  to  desire  and 
obtain  more  and  more  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  that 
may  be  had  as  a  reward  of  exertion,  served  but  to  enhance 
his  inherited  aversion  to  all  forms  of  labour.  The  issuing  of 
rations  even  to  the  extent  of  insuring  the  Indian  against  star- 
vation has  to  a  great  extent  removed  the  incentive  to  indus- 
try, and  the  Indian,  being  an  Indian,  has  remained  thriftless 
and  indifferent.  The  reservation  system,  so  far  as  attaining 
the  main  aim  in  view,  namely,  the  civilizing  of  the  Indian 
and  encouraging  him  to  work,  has,  to  a  great  extent,  been  a 
failure. 

In  addition  to  the  issuing  of  food  and  clothing,  the 
Government,  with  the  view  of  extending  still  further  en- 
couragement, has  in  a  large  number  of  instances  provided 
the  Indians  with  tools,  horses,  agricultural  implements,  etc., 
and  aided  in  irrigation  and  other  schemes  tending  to  the 
improvement  of  the  lands  comprised  in  reservations. 

Besides  the  direct  material  aid  just  referred  to,  schools 
have  been  established,  and  an  earnest  and  widely  extended 
effort  made  to  educate  the  Indians  and  make  them  worthy 
of  citizenship.  The  result  of  this  effort,  while  highly  encour- 
aging in  many  individual  instances,  has  on  the  whole  fallen 
far  short  of  what  was  expected  in  view  of  the  large  expendi- 
tures incurred.  The  sum  thus  employed  during  the  past 
thirty-three  years  is  about  $240,000,000.  The  total  appro- 
priation made  by  the  Government  for  the  care  and  education 
of  the  Indians,  inclusive  of  the  aborigines  of  Alaska,  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1901,  was  over  So. 000,000.  Of 
this  sum,  over  one-third  was  expended  in  the  maintenance 
of  schools.     In  addition  to  this  provision  there  are  a  number 


402  NORTH    AMERICA 

of  mission  and  other  schools,  supported  mainly  by  religious 
or  benevolent  organizations,  and  certain  public  schools  not 
receiving  aid  from  the  General  Government  which  were 
wholly  or  in  part  for  the  benefit  of  Indian  pupils. 

In  the  case  of  the  larger  of  the  Government  Indian 
schools  the  Indian  children  are  removed  from  their  homes 
and  placed  in  institutions  where  they  live  for  a  period  of 
four  years  under  military  discipline.  In  these  schools  lit- 
erary is  subordinate  to  industrial  training.  The  majority  of 
the  schools  are  equipped  with  shops  for  shoe-  and  harness- 
making,  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  wagon-making,  etc..  and 
in  several  instances  the  girls  are  taught  cooking  and  house- 
work. The  largest  of  these  schools  is  situated  at  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania,  at  which  the  average  attendance  during  the 
year  1900  was  961.  The  extent  to  which  education  is 
spreading  through  the  Indian  tribes  and  its  rate  of  increase 
are  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  attendance  on  the  Gov- 
ernment schools  has  increased  from  3,598  in  1877  to  21,566 
in  1900. 

While  the  benefits  received  by  the  Indians  through  the 
issuing  of  clothing,  rations,  and  by  education  has  been  great 
and  the  seed  for  future  progress  sown  broadcast,  the  results, 
so  far  as  lifting  the  recipients  into  an  atmosphere  of  refine- 
ment and  civilization  and  making  them  self-supporting  are 
concerned,  are  far  from  encouraging.  The  Indians  in  gen- 
eral are  still  wards  of  the  Government  and  not  worthy  of 
citizenship.  « 

The  aim  of  the  Government  is  not  only  to  educate  the 
Indians,  but  to  induce  them  to  adopt  the  ways  of  industrious 
and  progressive  white  men,  build  homes  on  land  ceded  to 
them  and  which  they  may  hold  as  individuals,  thus  breaking 
up  their  long-established  practise  of  communal  or  tribe  own- 
ership, and  finally  become  citizens  of  the  republic.  To  this 
end  land  has  been  divided  among  the  heads  of  families  of 
several  tribes  and  titles  in  severalty  granted,  with  restric- 
tions in  most,  if  not  all  instances,  in  reference  to  the  sale  of 
the  land  within  a  certain  period.  In  many  instances  this  plan 
has  been  productive  of  good  results,  and  the  Indians  have 
become  industrious  and  to  a   large  extent   citizens.      The 


THE    ABORIGINES  403 

numerous  successes  that  have  followed  the  allotment 
of  land  in  severalty,  accompanied  as  it  is  with  responsibilities 
and  the  necessity  of  self-support,  is  encouraging  and  leads 
to  the  hope  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  all  the 
Indians  will  have  passed  from  the  condition  of  barbarism  to 
one  of  civilization. 

In  Mexico  since  1824  the  Indians  have  been  on  the  same 
political  basis  as  the  whites,  although  to  a  great  extent  they 
have  failed  to  profit  by  their  advantages,  and  so  far  as  legal 
restrictions  are  concerned  are  eligible  to  any  office  of  the  re- 
public. The  brightest  example  of  the  wisdom  of  this  policy 
is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  in  at  least  one  instance  a  man 
of  pure  Aztec  blood  has  occupied  the  highest  office  in  the 
gift  of  the  people.  In  general,  and  in  fact  almost  univer- 
sally, the  position  of  the  Indian  in  Mexico  is  that  of  a  farm 
labourer,  but  although  nominally  free,  owing  to  a  prevalent 
system  of  debt,  he  is  really  held  in  vassalage  by  the  owners 
of  the  large  plantations  or  haciendas.  In  many  ways  his 
condition  is  but  little  better  than  that  of  a  slave.  Unlike 
the  roaming  tribes  of  the  more  northern  portion  of  the  con- 
tinent, where  the  food  supply  fluctuates  greatly  with  the  sea- 
sons, the  natives  of  Mexico  early  became  sedentary,  and, 
owing  no  doubt  in  part  to  the  density  of  the  population, 
became  horticulturists,  and  have  continued  to  cultivate  the 
soil  to  the  present  day.  They  are  now  essentially  agricul- 
turists, wedded  to  their  place  of  birth,  and  not  only  do  not 
desire  change,  but  repel  by  passive  resistance  the  invasion  of 
civilization  and  the  use  of  new  and  improved  tools  and  ma- 
chinery. They  are  non-progressive,  and  on  account  of  their 
great  numbers,  constituting  about  38  per  cent  of  the  entire 
population,  serve  to  retard  advancement  in  a  manner  that  is 
highly  detrimental  to  the  enlightened  and  progressive  mem- 
bers of  the  ruling  class.  Education  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the 
republic  is  compulsory  and  the  schools  free.  With  both 
political  and  educational  advantages,  however,bu1  indifferent 
progress  towards  civilization  has  been  made. 

The  present  condition  of  the  Indians  throughout  Central 
America  is  similar  to  that  of  the  descendants  of  the  Aztecs 
and    other   tribes    in    Mexico    both    politically    and    socially. 


404  NORTH    AMERICA 

They  are  a  disheartened  race,  living  in  a  region  where  exu- 
berant nature  supplies  their  small  wants  with  but  little  exer- 
tion on  their  part,  and  incentives  to  activity  either  of  body 
or  mind  are,  to  a  great  extent,  lacking. 

In  the  West  Indies  the  native  Caribs  were  nearly  ex- 
terminated by  the  Spaniards  early  in  their  occupation  of  the 
islands,  their  places  as  labourers  being  supplied  by  the  im- 
portation of  negro  slaves,  and  at  the  present  time  but  few,  if 
any,  Indians  of  pure  blood  are  to  be  found.  Throughout 
Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West  Indies  amalgama- 
tion of  the  Indian  with  both  Europeans  and  negroes  has 
taken  place,  and  a  mixed  race,  consisting  of  a  large 
percentage  of  the  total  population,  has  resulted.  In  Mex- 
ico these  mestizos,  as  they  are  termed,  number  about 
5,000,000,  or  about  two-fifths  of  the  entire  population.  In 
the  Central  American  republics  the  supplanting  of  the  abo- 
riginal race  by  the  same  process  is  thought  to  have  progressed 
at  about  the  same  rate  as  in  Mexico. 

To  the  student  of  geography  a  comparison  of  the  state  of 
the  aborigines  of  North  America  before  peoples  from  other 
lands  came  among  them,  with  reference  to  the  influence  of 
environment,  is  full  of  significance.  The  highest  degree  of 
culture  and  the  greatest  advance  towards  refinement  was 
in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  where  a  uniform  climate 
prevails  and  bodily  wants  are  few  and  easily  supplied.  It 
was  there  that  skill  in  architecture  reached  its  highest  de- 
velopment, and  what  is  worthy  the  name  of  art,  and  we 
may  almost  say  letters,  but  in  truth  picture-writing, 
reached  a  high  degree  of  advancement. 

This  marked  progress  in  a  tropical  country  beyond  what 
was  attained  by  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  temperate  and  cold 
portions  of  the  continent  seems  to  be  an  exception  to  the 
general  rule  that  intellectual  progress  is  stimulated  by 
changeable  climatic  conditions,  and  reaches  the  highest  de- 
velopment in  cold,  temperate  climates.  Apparently  the  de- 
gree of  stimulation  needed  for  the'  Caucasian  and  the  Indian 
differs,  and  the  latter  thrives  best  where  the  obstacles 
to  be  overcome  are  least.  This  is  in  harmony  with  the  oft- 
repeated  statement  that  the  Indian  is  but  a  child.    The  strug- 


THE    ABORIGINES  4©5 

gle  which  would  discourage  the  boy  is  but  zest  to  the  man. 
Among  the  Indians  themselves,  however,  we  find  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  suggested  in  the  fact  that  the  Iroquois  or 
the  Six  Nations  of  New  York,  in  their  tribal  organization 
and  alliances  of  offence  and  defence  probably  surpassed 
even  the  Aztecs  and  Mayas.  In  physical  strength  and  en- 
durance, and  in  mental  powers,  so  far  as  government  and 
oratory  are  concerned,  the  Iroquois  probably  surpassed  all 
other  Indians;  but  in  architecture,  art,  picture-writing,  etc., 
they  were  far  the  inferiors  of  the  Mexican  and  Central 
American  Indians.  Thus,  intellectual  strength  and  vigour 
seem  to  have  been  most  markedly  a  product  of  the  colder 
and  more  changeable  climate,  while  the  highest  attainment 
in  architecture,  etc.,  was  reached  at  the  south. 

It  is  in  the  temperate  region  also  that  the  best  results 
have  been  reached  in  attempting  to  civilize  the  Indians. 
This,  however,  cannot  be  claimed  as  a  result  of  climate  sim- 
ply, since  the  aid  that  has  been  extended  to  them  in  Canada 
and  the  United  States  is  far  different  from  the  influence 
exerted  on  their  relatives  at  the  south  by  men  of  Spanish 
blood.  The  results  of  the  efforts  of  Canada  and  the  United 
States  to  civilize  the  Indian  and  make  him  worthy  of  citizen- 
ship, although  costly  and  slow  in  reaching  the  desired  end, 
are  full  of  promise.  By  the  methods  referred  to  in  the  last 
few  pages  a  strong  effort  is  being  made  to  counteract 
the  harsh  treatment  the  Indians  received  during  the  earlier 
years  of  French  and  English  aggression,  and  to  give  them  a 
fair  chance  to  advance.  One  important  result  of  the  present 
firm  control  is  the  total  cessation  of  intertribal  warfare. 
Seemingly  the  aborigines  throughout  North  America,  with 
the  exception — and  it  is  hoped  this  is  but  temporary — of  the 
Alaskan  Eskimos  and  the  still  uncared-for  Indian  tribes  of 
Alaska  and  Canada,  should  increase  in  numbers  as  well  as  in 
enlightenment.  In  reference  to  numbers,  the  enumerations 
that  have  been  made  in  recent  years,  although  not  exact, 
seem  to  indicate  a  diminution  in  the  rate  of  decrease,  if  not 
a  positive  advance.  In  the  case  of  most  of  the  Indian  tribes 
north  of  Mexico  the  change  from  a  free  life,  passed  to  a 
large  extent  in  tents  or  temporary  homes,  to  an  inactive, 
27 


406  NORTH    AMERICA 

sedentary  existence,  mostly  on  reservations,  and  the  influ- 
ences of  house-life  without  a  knowledge  of  sanitary  condi- 
tions was  a  most  severe  one.  The  adverse  results  of  this 
change,  it  is  probable,  are  not  yet  past,  but  the  rate  of  de- 
crease in  numbers  resulting  from  it  appears  to  be  dimin- 
ishing. Aside  from  the  comparative  suddenness  with 
which  the  Indian  has  been  forced  to  change  his  ways  of 
thinking  and  living,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  is 
something  inherent  in  his  mental  qualities  that  makes  him 
unduly  resistant  to  progress.  As  a  race  it  is  not  to  be  hoped 
that  he  can  ever  be  placed  on  really  equal  terms  with  the 
white  man. 

The  total  aboriginal  population  of  North  America  in 
1900,  as  nearly  as  it  is  now  practicable  to  ascertain,  is  shown 
in  the  following  table  : 

f  Canada,  Arctic  coast 1,000 

Eskimos.  <  Newfoundland  (Labrador  coast) 3oo 

(  United  States,  Alaska  (1890) 14,000 

Total  Eskimo  population,  about 15.800 

f  Canada 99,010 

United  States,  exclusive  of  Alaska 270,544 

Indians.-j         "          "        Alaska   I5-5QO 

I  Mexico  (1895) 5,000,000 

^ Central  America  (largely  estimated) 1,600,000 

Total  Indian  population,  about 6,985,054 

Total  aboriginal  population,  about 7,000,800 

In  this  enumeration  no  account  is  taken  of  the  Indians  of 
the  West  Indies,  for  the  reason,  so  far  as  can  be  learned,  that 
there  are  few,  if  any,  of  pure  blood  remaining. 


LITERATURE 

Vast  stores  of  information  concerning  the  aborigines  of  America  have 
been  published  by  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology,  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution, Washington,  D.  C. ;  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology,  Cam- 
bridge, Mass. ;  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York, 
N.  Y. ;  the  Field  Columbian  Museum,  Chicago,  111. ;  and  in  the  American 
Archaologist,  a  monthly  magazine  now  printed  by  Putnam's  Sons,  New 
York. 


THE    ABORIGINES  4°7 

Readily  accessible  books  relating  to  the  Eskimos  of  Alaska  are  : 
Dall,  \V.  H.     Alaska  and  its  Resources.      Lee  &  Shepard,  Boston, 

1870. 
Petroff,  Ivan.     Reports  on  the  Population,  Resources,  etc.,  of  Alaska. 

In  the    reports  of   the  tenth  and  eleventh  censuses  of    the   United 

States. 

The  condition  of  the  Indians  in  the  United  States  during  the  past 
half  century  is  recorded  in  the  annual  reports  on  Indian  affairs  published 
by  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  Washington,  D.  C.  Similar  informa- 
tion concerning  the  natives  of  Canada  may  be  found  in  the  reports  on 
Indian  affairs  issued  by  the  Canadian  Government  at  Ottawa. 

Of  the  numerous  books  on  ethnology  in  which  the  relation  of  the 
aborigines  of  America  to  other  peoples  is  discussed,  perhaps  the  most 
useful  to  the  general  reader  is  A.  H.  Keane's  Man  Past  and  Present, 
printed  at  the  University  Press,  Cambridge,  England. 

Of  the  many  attractive  books  of  travel  in  which  the  Indians  of  Mexico 
and  Central  America  and  the  ruins,  etc.,  of  the  same  region  are  described, 
the  most  readily  accessible  are  :  John  L.  Stephens's  Incidents  of  Travel 
in  Yucatan,  2  vols.,  and  his  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America, 
Chiapas,  and  Yucatan,  2  vols.,  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers,  New 
York,  1867-68  ;  and  W.  H.  Holmes's  Archaeological  Studies  among  the 
Ancient  Cities  of  Mexico,  published  by  the  Field  Columbian  Museum, 
Chicago,  1897. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  l 

Among  the  prominent  facts  dealt  with  in  the  study 
of  political  geography  and  of  history  are  the  territorial  limits 
of  nations.  For  this  reason  the  characteristics  of  boundaries 
are  of  fundamental  importance,  and  a  classification  of  them 
is  convenient,  if  not  essential. 

Classification  of  Boundaries 

The  boundaries  between  nations,  states,  provinces,  etc., 
established  in  various  ways,  may  be  classified,  at  least  pro- 


1  As  stated  in  the  preface,  several  chapters  have  been  omitted  from 
this  book  on  account  of  limitations  of  space.  The  portions  of  the  original 
manuscript  referred  to  relate  to  the  geography  of  fisheries,  forestry,  min- 
ing, commerce,  agriculture,  etc.  In  discussing  each  of  these  themes,  the 
control  exerted  by  natural  conditions  or  environment  on  human  affairs 
made  itself  prominent  because  of  the  immediate  influence  of  corrective 
failures  when  nature's  laws  are  disregarded.  A  less  attractive  phase  of 
the  study  of  the  relation  of  man  to  nature  is  furnished  by  political  geog- 
raphy, in  which  the  influence  of  something  opposed  to  environment  be- 
comes prominent,  and  as  history  shows  has  in  the  main  exerted  a  major 
control  over  the  geography  of  nations.  That  something,  as  is  well  known, 
is  the  greed  of  peoples.  Space  is  here  claimed  for  a  part  of  my  original 
manuscript  for  the  reason  that  it  presents  a  view  of  political  adjustments 
not  usually  taken  and  in  a  way  perhaps  pessimistical,  which  may  awaken 
opposition,  and  also  because  it  contains  a  summary  of  the  results  of  a 
long  series  of  struggles  among  various  nations  for  the  possession  of  the 
North  American  continent.  Of  greater  moment  than  the  rivalries  of  na- 
tions for  territory,  as  is  also  outlined,  is  the  conflict  between  two  radically 
different  principles  of  government — the  monarchical  and  the  republican — 
in  which  this  continent  has  furnished  the  chief  battle-grounds.  Did  space 
permit,  the  influence  of  geographical  conditions  on  the  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  government  could  be  illustrated  by 
American  history,  and  the  probability  that  environment  will  in  the  end 
gain  ascendency  over  local  self-interests  in  the  establishing  of  national 
boundaries  made  prominent. 
408 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  409 

visionally,  in  six  groups.  We  may  term  these  groups  coast 
boundaries,  astronomical  boundaries,  water  boundaries, 
mountain  boundaries,  divide  boundaries,  and  arbitrary 
boundaries. 

Coast  Boundaries. — The  junction  of  the  sea  and  land  on 
the  borders  of  continents  and  islands  furnishes  natural  and 
sharply  defined  lines,  which  are  clearly  the  most  desirable 
of  any  of  the  various  classes  of  boundaries  for  defining  po- 
litical limits.  By  international  consent  the  jurisdiction  of 
a  country  bordering  on  the  "  high  seas  "  is  a  line  one  marine 
league  seaward  from  the  margin  of  the  land,  and  following 
its  meanders.  As  an  international  dividing  line  the  one- 
league  limit  seldom,  if  ever,  becomes  important,  since  the 
nice  adjustment  of  the  width  of  an  arm  of  the  sea  necessary 
for  such  a  purpose  rarely  occurs.  When  an  extension  of  the 
ocean's  waters  intervening  between  two  nations  is  less  than 
two  marine  leagues  wide  the  boundary  between  them  com- 
monly follows  its  medial  line,  and  has  all  the  essential  fea- 
tures of  a  water  boundary,  described  below. 

Astronomical  Boundaries. — The  shape  of  the  earth  and 
its  motions  in  reference  to  the  sun  are  such  that  certain 
imaginary  lines  on  its  surface  may  be  located  with  precision 
by  astronomers,  and  if  the  monuments  or  other  marks  em- 
ployed to  show  the  positions  of  such  lines  are  removed  they 
can  be  accurately  relocated.  The  lines  referred  to  are  prin- 
cipally parallels  of  latitude  and  meridians  of  longitude,  and 
boundaries,  so  far  as  they  coincide  with  these  lines,  may  for 
convenience  be  classed  as  astronomical  boundaries. 

Examples  of  the  class  of  boundaries  here  indicated  are 
furnished  by  the  one  defining  the  east  border  of  the  main 
body  of  Alaska,  which,  as  defined  in  a  treaty  made  in  1825 
between  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  is  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-first  meridian  west  of  Greenwich  ;  and  by  the  boundary 
between  Canada  and  the  continental  portion  of  the  United 
States  from  near  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  westward  to  the 
coast  of  the  continent,  wlhelu  as'  finally  decided  in  a  treaty 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  in  [846,  is  the 
forty-ninth  parallel  ^f  north  latitude.  The  boundaries  of  a 
number  of  the  States  of  the  United  States  and  of  several  tfi' 


4io  NORTH    AMERICA 

the  provinces  of  Canada  are  either  wholly  or  in  part  paral- 
lels of  latitude  or  meridians  of  longitude,  and  furnish  good 
examples  of  what  are  here  termed  astronomical  bound- 
aries. 

The  most  conspicuous  advantages  of  astronomical 
boundaries  are  that  they  may  be  accurately  described  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  country  through  which  they  pass.  They 
can  be  located  with  precision  and  their  courses  accurately 
marked  by  monuments.  For  these  reasons  astronomical 
boundaries,  when  clearly  defined  in  treaties  between  na- 
tions or  in  laws  concerning  the  territorial  limits  of  states 
or  provinces,  leave  no  room  for  contention  as  to  their  po- 
sitions. 

The  leading  objections  to  the  use  of  astronomical  bound- 
aries, particularly  as  international  dividing  lines,  are :  The 
temptation  they  offer  to  diplomats  and  others,  who  may  be 
interested  in  the  speedy  conclusion  of  a  treaty,  to  make  hasty 
divisions  of  territory  without  knowing  its  resources  or  com- 
mercial and  other  possibilities.  Then,  too,  such  boundaries 
cross  the  land  without  reference  to  its  topography,  and  have 
no  essential  relations  to  the  courses  of  streams  or  the  direc- 
tions of  coast-lines,  etc.  They  may  divide  a  fruitful  valley 
in  a  most  arbitrary  and  inconvenient  manner  between  two 
nations  with  widely  different  laws  and  customs,  or  cross  a 
navigable  river  at  several  localities,  and  intersect  a  coast  or 
lake  shore  so  as  to  initiate  complex  conditions  in  respect  to 
harbours,  navigation,  customs  duties,  etc.  In  these  and  still 
other  ways  boundaries  coinciding  with  lines  of  latitude  and 
longitude  are  apt  to  bring  about  detrimental  commercial 
and  other  relations  between  adjacent  nations,  states,  and 
provinces.  A  region  which  is  an  industrial  unit — as  the 
gold  fields  of  the  Klondike  district,  the  iron-bearing  tracts 
to  the  west  of  Lake  Superior,  the  wheat  lands  of  the  Red 
River  Valley,  the  forested  lands  of  the  northwest  coast,  etc. 
— when  divided  between  two  or  more  countries  with  different 
laws  is  deprived  of  the  advantages  that  should  follow  from 
the  natural  course  of  industrial  development,  and  one  part 
or  the  other  suffers  in  consequence. 

Again,  until  an  astronomical  boundary  is  surveyed  and 


PLATE    VII.— DISTRIBUTION     OF    GOVERNMENTS    IN 
NORTH    AMERICA. 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  411 

marked  on  the  ground  by  skilled  geodesists,  it  cannot  be 
located  even  approximately  by  miners,  trappers,  foresters, 
and  others,  and  many  difficulties  are  apt  to  arise  in  this  con- 
nection. 

Although  an  astronomical  boundary  once  decided  on  and 
formally  recorded  in  a  treaty  leaves  no  excuse  for  national 
quarrels  as  to  its  position,  it  is  evident  that  its  far-reaching 
and  perhaps  highly  complex  influences  on  the  development  of 
neighbouring  peoples  are  likely  to  be  such  that  the  natural 
resources,  conditions  affecting  transportation,  etc.,  of  the  re- 
gion through  which  it  passes  should  be  thoroughly  under- 
stood before  a  final  decision  is  reached. 

Water  Boundaries. — In  numerous  instances  the  medial 
line  or  one  shore  of  a  stream,  lake,  estuary,  strait,  or  other 
water  body  not  recognised  as  a  part  of  the  "  high  seas  "  has 
been  selected  to  serve  as  a  fence  between  nations  and  states ; 
collectively,  such  boundaries,  typically  represented  by  a  river 
without  islands,  flowing  between  well-defined  and  permanent 
banks,  may  conveniently  be  termed  water  boundaries.  In 
general,  when  a  stream,  lake,  etc.,  is  a  national  or  state 
boundary,  its  medial  line,  or  the  centre  of  the  deepest  channel 
when  there  is  more  than  one,  is  defined  as  the  precise  line 
of  demarcation. 

The  leading  features  of  water  boundaries  are  illustrated 
by  a  portion  of  the  line  separating  the  United  States  from 
Canada,  which  traverses  the  middle  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River,  and  divides  medially  several  of  the  Great  Lakes  and 
their  connecting  streams.  The  south  boundary  of  the  United 
States  is  also  in  part  a  water  boundary,  and  is  defined  by 
treaty  as  "  the  middle  line  of  the  Rio  Grande,  or  its  deep- 
est channel  where  there  is  more  than  one." 

In  certain  instances,  when  a  river,  lake,  bay,  etc.,  sepa- 
rates two  political  organizations,  one  shore  or  the  other  may 
be  defined  by  treaty  or  by  law  as  the  actual  line  of  separa- 
tion, and  even  complex  relations  may  exist,  in  reference  to 
jurisdiction  over  the  dividing  waters.  The  water  boundary 
between  Xew  York  and  Xew  Jersey,  for  example,  is.  in  part, 
the  middle  line  of  the  Hudson  and  of  Xew  York  Bay,  etc., 
with  several  qualifications,  including  exclusive  jurisdiction 


412  NORTH    AMERICA 

by  New  York  over  all  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  to  the  west 
of  Manhattan  Island  to  the  low-water  line  on  the  New  Jersey- 
shore,  subject,  however,  to  certain  rights  of  property  and  of 
jurisdiction  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  etc.  The  waters  of 
Delaware  River  are,  by  agreement  between  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania,  a  common  highway,  over  which  each  State 
"  shall  enjoy  and  exercise  a  concurrent  jurisdiction  within 
and  upon  the  water,  and  not  upon  the  dry  land  between  the 
shores  of  said  river  " ;  the  islands  in  the  river  being  specific- 
ally assigned  to  the  one  or  the  other  State. 

The  advantages  of  a  water  boundary  are  suggested  by  the 
fact  that  in  most  instances  they  may  be  easily  located,  even 
by  persons  inexperienced  in  the  method  of  surveying.  Coin- 
ciding, as  they  generally  do,  with  definite  geographical  divi- 
sions, they  do  not  lead  in  a  conspicuous  manner  to  complica- 
tions in  the  industrial  development  of  the  countries  or  States 
separated  by  them. 

The  difficulties  to  which  water  boundaries  may  give  rise 
are  indicated  by  the  fact  that  streams,  more  particularly  than 
the  other  water  bodies  in  question,  frequently  divide  so  as  to 
inclose  islands,  and  in  certain  instances  on  nearing  the  sea 
send  off,  perhaps,  several  distributaries,  which  discharge 
through  independent  mouths.  When  a  stream  divides  so  as 
to  inclose  an  island,  even  if  the  main  or  the  deepest  channel 
is  specified  by  treaty  or  by  law  as  the  one  chosen  as  a  bound- 
ary, the  question  as  to  which  of  two  channels  is  really  the 
larger  or  the  deeper  may  not  permit  of  definite  answer. 
Streams  are  subject  to  many  changes,  and  what  is  the  main 
channel  one  year  may  become  of  secondary  rank  the  next 
year,  or  a  river,  as  not  infrequently  happens,  may  shift  its 
course  bodily,  and  thus  furnish  grounds  for  contention  as 
to  the  ownership  of  the  territory  transferred  from  one  of  its 
banks  to  the  other.  The  distributaries  of  streams,  or  the 
separate  channels  into  which  they  divide  on  deltas,  etc.,  are 
also  subject  to  conspicuous  and  sometimes  sudden  changes. 
Who  could  decide,  for  instance,  which  is  the  main  channel  of 
such  rivers  as  the  Mississippi,  the  Nile,  or  the  Ganges,  in 
the  delta  portions  of  their  courses ;  or  if  a  choice  seemed  prac- 
ticable, is  there  any  assurance  that  the  distributary  largest 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  413 

to-day  will  maintain  its  supremacy  for  a  decade  to  come,  or 
even  be  in  existence  a  century  hence? 

The  controversies  that  may  arise  in  reference  to  which  of 
two  channels  in  a  designated  water  body  is  the  main  one,  are 
illustrated  by  the  well-known  "  San  Juan  episode,"'  which 
came  near  bringing  on  hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  in  reference  to  the  ownership  of  certain 
islands  in  the  Strait  of  Georgia;  the  immediate  subject  of 
contention  being  whether  "  the  channel  which  separates  the 
continent  from  Vancouvers  Island,"  as  the  statement  reads 
in  the  Webster- Ashburton  treaty,  1846,  passes  to  the  east  or 
to  the  west  of  the  San  Juan  Islands.  The  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, as  is  well  known,  acting  as  arbitrator,  decided  that  the 
islands  belong  to  the  United  States.  Thus,  in  1872,  a  series 
of  disputes  as  to  the  Canadian-United-States  boundary, 
which  had  been  carried  on  for  ninety  years,  was  closed. 

While  water  boundaries,  and  especially  rivers,  in  certain 
instances,  have  furnished  almost  ideal  dividing  lines  between 
nations,  in  other  instances  they  have  proved  to  be  objection- 
able. The  difference  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  streams  them- 
selves, and  illustrates  the  fact  that,  with  water  boundaries  as 
with  other  classes  of  dividing  lines  between  nations,  a  critical 
knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  region  through  which 
they  pass  is  a  prerequisite  of  treaty  making,  if  subsequent 
boundary  disputes  are  to  be  avoided. 

Mountain  Boundaries. — The  crests  of  mountain  ranges, 
nr  mountain  chains,  are  sometimes  specified  in  treaties  as 
defining  territorial  limits.  The  ideal  mountain  range  is  one 
having  a  generally  straight  alignment  and  a  continuous  and 
sharply  defined  crest,  but  in  nature  this  ideal  is  seldom  at- 
tained. Modern  geographical  studies  have  shown  that  many 
so-called  mountains,  which  from  a  distance  appear  to  be 
well-defined  uplifts  with  sharp  crest-lines,  are  in  reality  broad 
plateatts  or  great  domes,  deeply  dissected  by  stream  erosion. 
In  such  instances  it  is  frequently  difficult  to  decide  where  the 
cresl  of  the  range  is  located.  Indeed,  as  is  not  infrequently 
the  case,  there  is  no  definite  :\w\  tangible  crest-line.  Al- 
though it  is  sometimes  assumed  thai  the  crest-line  coincides 
with  the  water-parting,  or  the  divide,  between   the  head 


4J4  NORTH    AMERICA 

branches  of  streams  flowing  in  opposite  directions  from  a 
mountain-like  uplift,  it  is  well  known  that  a  mountain  range, 
even  when  bold  and  sharply  defined,  may  not  be  a  divide  for 
the  principal  streams  of  the  region  where  it  is  situated.  An 
illustration  in  point  is  furnished  by  the  Appalachian  Moun- 
tains, through  which  the  Susquehanna,  Delaware,  and  other 
important  rivers  rising  in  the  plateau  to  the  west  flow  trans- 
versely in  deep  valleys  and  empty  into  the  Atlantic. 

The  recent  controversy  between  Argentina  and  Chile  was 
due  to  an  assumption  in  a  treaty  between  them  that  the  crest- 
line  of  the  southern  Andes  coincides  with  the  water-parting 
between  the  streams  flowing  to  the  Atlantic  and  those  dis- 
charging into  the  Pacific.  Post-treaty  surveys,  as  they  may 
suggestively  be  termed,  have  shown  that  in  the  portion  of 
the  Andes  in  question  streams  rising  well  to  the  east  of  the 
mountains  flow  westward  through  them  in  deep  transverse 
canons,  and  that  there  is  a  wide  discrepancy  between  the 
continental  water-parting  and  the  topographic  crest-line  of 
the  continent. 

A  mountain  boundary,  if  defined  as  the  line  along  which 
the  upward  slopes  on  the  opposite  sides  of  a  prominent  uplift 
meet  in  its  summit  portion,  would  in  most  instances  be 
irregular  and  perhaps  conspicuously  intricate,  for  the  reason 
that  mountain  crests  are  modified  and  shaped  by  erosion  and 
migrate  in  one  direction  or  another  according  to  the  strength 
and  other  qualifying  conditions  of  the  opposite-flowing 
streams.  Then,  too,  an  uplift  which  seems  to  a  casual  ob- 
server to  be  a  single  mountain  range,  may  in  reality  be 
highly  complex,  and  no  continuous  crest-line  be  discoverable. 
In  short,  the  sweeping  statements  sometimes  embodied  in 
treaties,  to  the  effect  that  the  line  of  demarcation  between  con- 
tiguous countries  shall  be  the  crest-line  of  a  certain  indicated 
mountain  range  are  fraught  with  uncertainties  and  difficul- 
ties, which  are  likely  to  prove  a  source  of  discontent  and 
costly  arbitration,  or  even  lead  to  war. 

Divide  Boundaries. — A  boundary  which  is  defined  as 
following  a  specified  water-parting  or  divide,  from  which 
streams  flow  in  opposite  directions,  would  in  most  instances 
be  easily  traceable  on  the  ground  even  by  persons  unskilled 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  4*5 

in  the  art  of  surveying,  and  for  this  and  other  reasons  has 
much  to  commend  it ;  yet,  without  an  accurate  knowledge, 
and  most  of  all  an  accurate  topographic  map  of  the  region 
through  which  such  a  boundary  is  to  pass,  its  selection  on 
general  principles,  however  nicely  worded,  is  open  to  dangers 
of  the  same  nature  as  those  pertaining  to  a  similar  choice  of 
a  mountain  boundary. 

In  arid  regions  broad  plateaus  may  form  divides,  and  even 
an  approximate  location  of  the  line  of  water-parting,  if  one 
exists,  be  a  matter  of  difficulty  and  uncertainty.  Then,  too, 
the  process  of  head-water  corrasion  pertaining  to  essentially 
all  streams,  and  of  stream  capture,  or  the  acquiring  by  one 
stream,  through  the  process  of  stream  development,  of  the 
territory  formerly  drained  by  its  neighbour,  leads  to  a  migra- 
tion and  sometimes  a  sudden  and  perhaps  extensive  shifting 
of  a  water-parting. 

Examples  of  divide  boundaries  are  furnished  by  the  one 
separating  Idaho  and  Montana,  which  in  part  coincides  with 
the  continental  divide,  and  serves  its  purpose  well;  but  the 
satisfaction  it  has  given  is  to  be  qualified  by  the  fact  that, 
for  the  most  part,  it  is  situated  in  a  rugged  region,  where 
there  is  but  slight  probability  of  the  property  interests  of  the 
communities  parted  by  it  coming  into  direct  contact. 

Boundaries  which  are  made  to  coincide  with  the  courses 
of  rivers,  with  the  crest-lines  of  mountains,  or  with  water- 
partings,  have  certain  commendable  features  in  common ; 
thev  are  easily  located,  readily  defined  by  natural  features 
of  the  earth's  surface,  and  in  general  do  not  require  to  be 
accurately  surveyed  and  marked  by  monuments  before  they 
serve  their  purpose  as  international  or  interstate  fences. 

.  Irbitrary  Boundaries. — A  class  of  boundaries  not  other- 
wise readily  definable  may  be  conveniently  designated  as 
arbitrary  boundaries,  since,  as  a  rule,  thev  are  not  described 
in  terms  such  as  pertain  to  astronomical  boundaries,  and 
bear  no  necessary  relation  t<>  topographic  or  other  features 
of  the  regions  thev  traverse.  Like1  astronomical  boundaries, 
the  ones  here  considered  are  imaginary  lines,  and.  in  part, 
might  with  propriety  be  included  in  that  class,  since  they  are 
capable  of  being  located  by  astronomical  methods;  but  they 


4i 6  NORTH    AMERICA 

serve  our  purpose  better  if  considered  in  a  group  by  them- 
selves. The  class  of  boundaries  here  referred  to  includes 
straight  lines  connecting  two  points ;  lines  defined  as  running 
in  a  given  direction  (azimuth)  and  for  certain  distances; 
arcs  of  circles;  tangents  to  circles,  etc.  In  brief,  arbitrary 
boundaries  may  be  defined  as  straight  or  curved  lines  or  com- 
binations of  such  lines,  and  are  similar  to  the  lines  employed 
by  surveyors  in  marking  the  boundaries  of  a  farm,  locating  a 
railroad,  etc. 

An  example  of  what  is  meant  by  an  arbitrary  boundary 
is  furnished  by  the  line  separating  Delaware  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  is  an  arc  of  a  circle  12  miles  in  radius,  with 
the  steeple  of  the  old  court-house  in  Newcastle,  Delaware, 
as  a  centre.  Again,  in  the  establishment  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  a  rectangle  10  miles  square  was  chosen  and 
marked  on  the  ground  by  means  of  monuments  as  the  site  of 
the  capital  of  the  United  States.  Another  illustration  is 
furnished  by  the  eastern  boundary  of  California,  as  defined 
in  its  constitution.  This  boundary  runs  from  the  intersec- 
tion of  120  degrees  of  west  longitude  with  the  thirty-ninth 
degree  of  north  latitude  in  a  straight  line  in  a  southeasterly 
direction  to  the  River  Colorado,  at  a  point  where  it  inter- 
sects the  thirty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude. 

Boundaries  of  the  nature  just  cited  can  only  be  recog- 
nised when  actually  marked  on  the  ground,  and  except  in 
the  case  of  straight  lines,  not  of  great  length,  or  small  geo- 
metrical figures,  are  difficult  of  precise  location,  even  by 
skilled  surveyors.  Should  the  monuments  used  to  define 
their  positions  be  destroyed,  their  replacement  is  an  ardu- 
ous task. 

An  interesting  example  of  a  change  from  an  astronomical 
to  an  arbitrary  boundary  is  furnished  by  the  line  of  demarca- 
tion between  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  which  in  part,  as 
originally  defined  by  law,  was  the  one  hundred  and  third 
meridian  of  west  longitude,  but  owing  to  errors  in  the  first 
survey  was  wrongly  marked  on  the  ground  by  monuments. 
The  monuments,  however,  having  been  accepted  as  indicating 
the  position  of  the  true  line  of  division,  became  points  in  an 
arbitrary  boundary.     Other  similar  examples  of  the  accept- 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  4*7 

ance  of  an  arbitrary  in  place  of  an  astronomical  boundary 
are  not  uncommon. 

Impracticable  Boundaries. — There  are  certain  dividing 
lines  which  are  defined  in  treaties,  decrees,  etc.,  as  running 
parallel  to  some  natural  feature,  as  a  coast  or  a  river,  and 
at  a  given  distance  from  it,  that  might  with  propriety  be 
classed  as  arbitrary  boundaries,  since  no  effort  is  made  to 
adjust  them  to  the  natural  conditions  of  the  immediate  ter- 
ritory they  traverse;  but,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  a 
still  greater  weakness  inherent  in  them,  they  are  here  spe- 
cially designated  as  impracticable  boundaries.  This,  as  is 
to  be  hoped,  temporary  class  of  boundaries  includes  the 
proposed  lines  of  demarcation  sometimes  inserted  in  trea- 
ties, etc.,  which  it  is  impossible,  or  at  least  impracticable, 
without  great  and  for  the  most  part  useless  expense  of  time 
and  money,  to  mark  on  the  ground,  and  thus  seek  to  make 
serviceable. 

In  this  connection  reference  may  be  made  to  the  boundary 
between  southeastern  Alaska  and  Canada,  which,  as  stated 
in  the  treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia  previously 
referred  to,  in  the  absence  of  a  mountain  range  parallel  with 
the  coast  and  not  over  10  marine  leagues  inland — and  as 
subsequent  explorations  and  surveys  have  shown  such  is  the 
case — "  shall  be  formed  by  a  line  parallel  to  the  windings  of 
the  coast,  and  which  shall  never  exceed  the  distance  of  10 
marine  leagues  therefrom."  The  region  through  which  the 
line  described  would  pass,  if  surveyed,  was  almost  entirely 
unknown  at  the  time  the  treaty  referred  to  was  made,  but, 
as  has  since  been  discovered,  it  is  exceedingly  rugged,  and 
contains  many  mountains  ranging  from  10,000  to  18,000 
feet  high,  besides  a  multitude  of  glaciers  and  many  extensive 
held-  1  if  perpetual  snow.  To  survey  and  mark  on  the  ground 
the  boundary  indicated  in  the  treaty  would  be  what  may  be 
justly  termed  an  impossible  task;  and,  besides,  if  the  line  as 
defined  by  treaty  should  be  established,  it  would  be  intri- 
cate, and  much  less  serviceable  as  a  national  fence  than  any 
one  of  several  possible  boundaries  that  could  have  been 
eli'  isen,  with  essentially  the  same  end  in  view,  at  the  tune  the 
original   treaty   was   entered,    into,    had   a   geographer    been 


4i 8  NORTH    AMERICA 

employed  to  make  even  a  hasty  reconnaissance  of  the  region 
in  question. 

Another  example  of  a  boundary  being  defined  as  running 
parallel  to  and  at  a  specified  distance  from  an  irregular  geo- 
graphical feature  is  furnished  by  a  part  of  the  boundary 
between  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  which  is  a  line 
parallel  to  the  Merrimac  River,  and  distant  from  it  3  miles 
on  the  north.  In  this  case,  although  the  distance  of  the  line 
designated  from  the  one  to  which  it  is  to  be  drawn  parallel 
is  but  3  miles,  and  the  country  between  only  mildly  un- 
dulating or  hilly,  the  boundary  as  now  marked  on  the  ground 
and  accepted  as  an  interstate  boundary  is  but  a  rude  approx- 
imation to  the  one  originally  defined. 

These  examples,  and  others  that  might  with  propriety  be 
classified  as  impracticable  boundaries,  illustrate  again  the 
desirability  of  accurate  geographical  knowledge,  and  still 
more  of  an  adequate  appreciation  of  the  difficulties  and  lim- 
itations met  with  by  the  surveyor,  on  the  part  of  those  who 
attend  to  the  real-estate  business  of  nations. 

The  line  of  separation  between  Canada  and  the  United 
States,  as  defined  by  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  18 14,  and  after 
several  subsequent  adjustments,  was  determined  as  indicated 
roughly  on  the  accompanying  map.  Throughout  the  greater 
part  of  its  eastern  half  it  is  a  river  boundary,  and  in  its  west- 
ern half  an  astronomical  boundary. 

In  1876  the  English  Government  granted  Newfoundland 
jurisdiction  over  Labrador,  and  in  letters  patent  defined  that 
dependency  as  "  all  the  coast  of  Labrador,  from  the  entrance 
of  Hudson  Straits  to  a  line  to  be  drawn  due  north  and  south 
from  Ause  Sableu  on  the  said  coast  to  the  fifty-second  degree 
of  north  latitude,  and  all  the  islands  adjacent  to  that  part  of 
the  said  coast  of  Labrador."  This  line  is  still  unsurveyed. 
From  the  fifty-second  parallel  to  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle,  a 
distance  of  about  40  miles,  the  boundary  is  a  north-and-south 
line  situated  about  7  miles  west  of  the  fifty-seventh  meridian, 
as  is  indicated  on  the  best  maps  available. 

The  southern  boundary  of  the  L'nited  States,  as 
finally  determined  in   1853  by  treaty  with  Mexico,  is,  be- 


Rl  FERENCE  TO  <  OU 

I  Mixed  Wood  and  G 

(H  Mount. mi  Fores) 

*  -r.. nland,  partly  *i 

»  ^   Mountain  Flora 

i1 '" 

Aid;     I 


CHARACTERISTIC    VEGETATION 


c 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  419 

ginning  at  the  east,  a  river  boundary  for  some  900  miles, 
namely,  the  middle  of  the  Rio  Grande,  or  its  deepest  channel, 
when  there  is  more  than  one,  to  where  the  river  crosses  the 
parallel  of  latitude  310  47';  continuing  westward,  the  line 
is  in  part  an  astronomical  and  in  part  an  arbitrary  boundary 
to  the  Pacific. 

The  nature  of  the  boundaries  separating  the  several  prov- 
inces of  Canada,  the  various  States  of  the  United  States  and 
of  Mexico,  the  republics  of  Central  America,  etc..  are  indi- 
cated approximately  on  the  accompanying  map.  These  lines 
when  studied  on  larger-scale  maps  on  which  the  drainage 
and  relief  are  also  shown  reveal  many  features  of  interest. 


POLITICAL    CONTROL 

The  political  subdivisions  of  North  America  in  1900  are 
too  well  known  to  require  specific  description  at  this  time. 
The  long-continued  struggles  and  rivalries  that  have  led  to 
the  present  subdivision  of  territory  pertain  to  history,  and 
although  full  of  interest  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  geog- 
rapher, cannot  be  discussed  in  the  present  treatise.  Among 
the  conspicuous  events  that  might  be  shown  by  a  series  of 
political  maps  is  the  contraction  and  final  disappearance  of 
Spanish  and  French  dominion  from  the  continental  main- 
land. The  broad,  indefinite  territory  once  belonging  to 
Spain,  which  in  the  sixteenth  century  seemed  destined  to 
expand  still  more  and  possibly  embrace  the  whole  of  the  two 
Americas,  has  been  diminished  from  time  to  time,  until  as  a 
result  of  the  recent  Spanish-American  War  her  tlag  no 
longer  waves  over  any  portion  of  the  New  World.  The 
French  territory,  once  embracing  a  large  portion  of  what 
is  now  Canada  and  the  United  States,  is  at  present  repre- 
sented by  the  islands  Martinique  and  Guadeloupe  with  its 
dependencies,  in  the  West  Indies,  and  the  islands  Miquelon 
and  St.  Pierre,  adjacent  to  the  south  coasl  of  Newfoundland; 
in  all,  comprising  about  i,i6i  square  miles.  The  French 
have,  in  addition,  certain  treaty  rights  pertaining  to  fisher- 
1  the  northern  and  western  shores  of  Newfoundland. 

Between  the  two  forms  of  government,  monarchical  and 


420  NORTH    AMERICA 

republican,  North  America  is  somewhat  equally  divided,  so 
far  as  extent  of  territory  is  concerned  (Plate  VII),  but  not 
as  respects  population.  The  people  under  republican  organ- 
ization far  outnumber  those  still  acknowledging  allegiance 
to  hereditary  rulers.  The  countries  self-governed,  or  form- 
ing parts  of  American  republics,  embraced  in  1900  all  of  the 
continental  mainland  south  of  the  United-States-Canadian 
boundary,  together  with  Alaska,  Cuba,  San  Domingo  and 
Haiti,  and  Porto  Rico.  The  provinces,  islands,  etc.,  still 
controlled  by  European  powers  are  Canada,  Newfoundland, 
Bermuda,  and  all  of  the  West  Indies  except  the  islands  just 
referred  to,  which  are  more  definitely  designated  in  the  table 
on  page  424.  The  population  of  the  American  republics  is 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  97,000,000,  and  of  the  European 
dependencies  somewhat  less  than  7,000,000.  A  republican 
form  of  government,  more  or  less  definitely  foreshadowed 
by  the  tribal  confederations  of  the  aborigines,  the  most  con- 
spicuous example  of  which  is  furnished  by  the  Iroquois  or 
"  Six  Nations,"  has  thus  become  the  characteristic  feature 
of  the  political  organizations  of  North  America ;  the  same 
is  true  also  of  South  America.  The  New  World  is  thus 
conspicuously  republican,  in  distinction  from  the  Old  World, 
which   is  characteristically   monarchical. 

The  immigration  to  North  America  since  its  discovery 
by  Columbus  has  been  from  all  the  nations  of  the  Old  World, 
but  most  largely  from  Europe.  Negroes  were  brought  as 
slaves,  and  their  descendants,  now  free,  form  a  large  per- 
centage of  the  population,  especially  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  United  States  and  the  West  Indies.  Chinese,  since 
about  1870.  have  arrived  in  large  numbers,  but  their  immi- 
gration to  the  United  States  is  now  restricted.  Of  the  na- 
tions of  Europe,  the  strongest  influx  has  come  from  Great 
Britain.  France,  Germany,  Spain,  and  Italy.  To  a  marked 
degree  this  westward  migration  has  been  along  parallels  of 
latitude,  but  the  migratory  streams  on  reaching  North 
America  subdivided  into  many  distributaries,  and  a  min- 
gling of  nationalities  on  a  vast  scale  has  resulted.  This 
amalgamation  has  been  so  great  and  so  long  continued  that 
several  new  and  somewhat  strongly  individualized  national- 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  421 

ities  have  arisen,  the  most  instructive  being  in  the  temperate 
portion  of  the  continent. 

The  dominant  language,  as  in  the  case  of  political  con- 
trol, has  been  inherited  from  Great  Britain.  English  is  the 
universal  language  to  the  northward  of  Mexico  and  on  cer- 
tain of  the  West  Indian  islands.  To  the  south  of  the  United- 
States-Mexican  boundary,  but  beginning  in  the  southwestern 
portion  of  the  United  States,  and  including  also  the  greater 
part  of  the  population  of  the  West  Indies,  Spanish  is  the 
current  language,  except  among  the  uncivilized  aborigines. 
French  is  commonly  spoken  by  many  thousands  of  people  in 
the  province  of  Quebec,  Canada,  and  in  certain  of  the  West 
Indies. 

The  ideal  nation,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  geog- 
rapher, is  one  so  situated  that  it  is  self-sustaining — that  is, 
contains  within  its  own  domain  all  the  conditions  necessary 
for  its  life  and  growth.  It  should  have  favourable  climatic 
conditions,  agricultural  land,  forests,  mines,  fisheries,  etc. 
More  than  this,  even  if  all  material  wants  are  supplied  from 
within  its  own  border,  intellectual  desires  demand  outside 
stimuli.  The  ideal  nation  should  therefore  touch  the  ocean, 
in  order  to  have  avenues  for  travel  open  to  its  people.  I 
am  well  aware  that  a  more  commanding,  or,  perhaps  better, 
a  more  modern  view,  would  show  that  improved  methods  of 
transportation  have  made  the  whole  world  commercially  one; 
but  invisible  tariff  walls  still  separate  peoples  and  wars  break 
lines  of  communication. 

It  might  be  expected  that  in  the  New  World,  conditions 
being  also  new  and  room  for  development  abundant,  civil- 
ized nations  would  have  adjusted  their  boundaries  so  as  to 
make  an  ideal  subdivision  of  territory  in  accord  with  natural 
conditions.  A  study  of  the  boundaries  separating  the  na- 
tions of  North  America,  however,  fails  to  furnish  evidence 
of  such  an  adjustment.  On  the  contrary,  even  between  the 
most  highly  civilized  countries,  in  which  the  people  speak 
the  same  language,  the  dividing  lines  are  entirely  arbitrary, 
so  far  as  relation  to  soil,  climate,  mineral  and  timber  re- 
sources, fisheries,  etc.,  are  concerned.  The  line  separating 
Alaska  and  Canada  is  mainly  a  meridian  of  longitude,  which 

23 


422  NORTH    AMERICA 

passes  through  a  rich  mining  district.  The  southern  bound- 
ary of  Canada  is  for  the  most  part  a  parallel  of  latitude  divi- 
ding agricultural,  mining,  and  timber  lands.  The  material 
advancement  of  the  inhabitants  on  the  opposite  sides  of  these 
unnatural  dividing  lines  is  retarded  by  them  and  the  progress 
of  civilization  delayed.  The  same  is  true  of  the  invisible  wall 
separating  the  United  States  from  Mexico,  and  the  various 
partitions  intersecting  Central  America.  There  has  evi- 
dently been  but  little,  if  any,  tendency  to  draw  the  boundaries 
referred  to  in  conformity  with  natural  conditions.  What, 
then,  is  the  force  which  sets  nature  at  naught?  The  reply  is 
not  obscure.  In  one  word,  it  is  greed.  "  To  have  and  to 
hold  "  is  the  unwritten  motto  of  republics  as  well  as  of 
monarchies. 

The  absurdity  of  disregarding  geographical  relations, 
and  in  consequence  checking  national  development,  and  lead- 
ing to  stagnation  and  to  material  and  intellectual  decline,  is 
sadly  illustrated  by  the  subdivision  of  the  West  Indies.  In 
an  admirable  account  of  the  Caribbean  region  by  R.  T.  Hill, 
in  which  its  present  commercial  depression  is  described  and 
the  reasons  for  it  judiciously  analyzed,  occurs  the  following- 
passage  relative  to  the  case  in  point : 

"  A  greater  drawback  to  the  West  Indies  than  the  one- 
sided agriculture — the  raising  of  sugar-cane — is  their  polit- 
ical condition.  Their  distribution  among  too  many  nation- 
alities necessitates  the  support  of  expensive  and  useless  ad- 
ministrations, and  prevents  federation  of  interests  and  the 
development  of  trade  among  themselves  and  with  the  United 
States,  the  nearest  and  largest  natural  consumer  of  their 
products.  Very  ridiculous  some  of  these  political  conditions 
seem.  The  island  of  St.  Martin,  not  as  large  as  an  average 
county  in  the  United  States,  is  divided  into  two  principalities, 
the  French  and  the  Dutch,  each  of  which  maintains  an  ad- 
ministrative force  as  large  as  that  of  the  State  of  Texas. 
Then,  as  we  sail  down  the  eastern  islands,  hardly  a  score  in 
number,  and  within  sight  of  one  another,  aggregating  in 
area  less  than  our  little  State  of  Delaware,  about  2,000  square 
miles,  we  find  five  foreign  and  no  less  than  a  dozen  distinct 
colonial  governments,  each  responsible  to  Europe,  with  no 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  4^3 

shadow  of  federation  between  them,  or  even  cooperation  of 
any  kind — a  condition  not  only  pitiable,  but  absurd.  Why 
should  Dominica,  whose  people  are  French  in  language  and 
institutions,  be  sandwiched  in  between  Martinique  and 
Guadeloupe,  and  within  easy  sight  of  both,  yet  so  cut  off 
from  them  by  quarantine  and  tariff  laws  that  it  is  commer- 
cially nearer  England,  some  3,000  miles  distant,  than  to  its' 
neighbours?  " 

The  conditions  necessary  for  an  ideal,  self-contained 
government  were  briefly  referred  to  above.  In  North  Amer- 
ica, perhaps,  several  such  eligible  sites  for  a  definite  number 
of  people  might  be  chosen,  but  in  no  case  without  the  draw- 
ing of  unnatural  boundaries.  The  continent,  as  is  shown 
by  its  geology  and  geography,  is  a  unit,  and  the  most  typical 
of  comparable  size  of  any  on  the  earth.  These  same  condi- 
tions point  to  a  single  political  unit.  Arguing  from  geo- 
graphical relations  simply,  and  not  considering  the  racial 
differences  and  local  self-interests,  the  one  boundary  in 
North  America  should  be  the  shore  boundary,  except  at  the 
30-mile-wide  Isthmus  of  Panama.  To  the  geographer  North 
America  presents  an  example  of  a  region  containing  within 
itself  essentially  all  of  the  elements  necessary  to  a  high  in- 
dustrial, social,  educational,  and  ethical  development  of  its 
inhabitants.  The  industrial  needs  are  met  by  a  range  of 
products,  whether  of  soils,  mines,  forests,  or  fisheries,  as 
varied  or  nearly  so  as  is  presented  by  the  entire  earth.  Al- 
though the  continent  is  broadest  at  the  far  north,  where  cli- 
matic extremes  prohibit  a  dense  population,  yet  in  the  tem- 
perate region,  or  between  the  mean  annual  isotherms  of  45 
and  75,  a  space  of  some  1,200  miles  in  latitude,  it  is  from 
2,500  to  4,000  miles  wide.  In  this  temperate  region  there 
is  at  present  greater  commercial  and  mental  activity  than 
elsewhere  on  the  continent,  and  it  is  here  that  the  dominant 
power  of  the  future  will  be  Incited.  Supplementing  the  agri- 
culture, manufactures,  etc.,  of  the  temperate  belt  are  the 
vast  forested  and  fur-bearing  regions  on  the  north  and  the 
exuberant  tropical  countries  on  the  south.  Each  of  these 
three  great  regions  are  parts  of  a  whole  and  mutually  supple- 
ment each  other. 


424 


NORTH    AMERICA 


The  distribution  of  the  population  of  North  America,  in 
respect  to  political  subdivisions  during  the  year  1900,  is  in- 
dicated, as  nearly  as  it  has  been  found  practicable  to  ascertain 
it.  in  the  following  table: 


POPULATION  OF    NORTH   AMERICA   IN    1900 


Government. 


American  Governments 
United  States  (inclusive  of  Alaska  and  Porto  Rico) J. 

Mexico 

Guatemala2 

Salvador3 

N  icaragua 

Honduras4 

Costa  Rica5 

Panama  (Department  of  Colombia) 

San  Domingo  \  Together  occupying  the  island  / 

Haiti (      Santo  Domingo  or  Haiti.       f  . . . . 

Cuba 


Total  for  American  governments 

Possessions  still  held  by  European  Governments 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  :  6 

Canada ■ 

Newfoundland  and  Labrador 

Bermuda ■ 

West  Indies  (Bahamas,  Jamaica,  etc.) 

British  Honduras 


Total  for  the  United  Kingdom 

France : 

Miquelon  and  St.  Pierre 

West  Indies  (Guadeloupe,  Martinique,  etc.). 


Total  for  France 

Denmark : 

West  Indies  (St.  Thomas,  St.  John,  and  St.  Croix) 
Holland : 

West  Indies  (St.  Martin  in  part,  St.  Eustace,  and 
Saba) 4 


Total  for  European  governments 
Total  for  North  America 


Area  in  square  j     population. 


3,626,533 

76,265,469' 

767,005 

13.570,545 

63,400 

1,574.338 

7,225 

803,534 

49, 200 

420,000 

45.250 

407,000 

23,000 

310,000 

32,380 

200,000 

20,596 

1,244,650 

9,242 

500,000 

44,  coo 

1,572,797 

4,687,831 


3,653,946 
49-734 

12,059 
7,562 


3,723,3^:0 


3,7-4,659 


96>95S,333 


4,846,377 
201,934 

rs,01^ 
1,357,254 

3i,47r 


6,452,049 

6,250 

354,790 


6,856,225 


8,412,490       103,814,558 


1  The  area  of  Alaska  is  590,884  square  miles  ;  its  population,  63,592.  The 
area  of  Porto  Rico  is  3,600  square  miles  ;  its  population  (1899),  953,243. 
Hawaii,  not  included  above,  has  an  area  of  6,449  square  miles  and  a  population 
of  154,000. 

2  In  1S94.  3  In  1896.  4  In  1899.  6  In  1891.  6  In  1898. 


POLITICAL    GEOGRAPHY  425 


LITERATURE 

Twelfth  Census  of  the  United  States. 

British  America.  By  several  authors.  Published  by  Kegan  Paul, 
Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  London,  1900. 

Stanford's  Compendium  of  Gtography  and  Travel.  North  America. 
Vol.  i,  Canada  and  Newfoundland,  by  S.  E.  Dawson.  Vol.  ii,  The 
United  States,  by  Henry  Gannett  ;  Central  America  and  the  West 
Indies,  by  A.  H.  Keane. 

Hill,  R.  T.  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  other  West  India  Islands. 
The  Century  Company,  New  York,  1899. 

GANNETT,  H.  Boundaries  of  the  United  States.  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey,  Bulletin  No.  171,  second  edition,  Washington,  1900. 


INDEX 


Aborigines,  355-4Q7- 

Adams,  Mt.,  Wash.,  height  of,  156. 

Adirondack    Mountains,    brief   ac- 
count of,  83-84. 

Adobe  used  for  bricks,  389. 

Agassiz,  A.,  cited,  12,  21. 

Work  of,   in   Caribbean  region, 
16. 

Alaska,    area    and    population    of, 
424. 
Boundary  of,  416. 
Coast  topography  of,  45-46. 
Indians   of,   397. 
Map  of  coast  of,  47. 

Alaska  Commercial  Company,  375. 

Albemarle  Sound,  origin  of,  42. 

Aleutian    Islands,    topography    of, 
40. 

Aleutians,  brief  account  of,   373- 
376. 

Aleuts,  brief  account  of,  373-376. 

Algonkian  system,  310. 

Allen,  J.  A.,  cited,  260,  290. 

Alpine  flora,  254-257. 

American  governments,  enumera- 
tion of,  424. 

Animal  life,  258-298. 

Anticlinal   valleys,  78. 

Antillean  Mountains,  brief  account 
of,  169-171. 

Antiquity  of  the  aborigines,  357- 
363. 

Apatite,  350. 

Appalachian    Mountains,   descrip- 
tion of.  74  -82. 
Map  of,  75. 

Archean  period,  308  310. 

Arches  in   Maya  houses,  392. 


Arctic  climatic  province,  203. 
Arctogaeic  life  realm,  259. 
Areas  of  various  governments,  424. 
Arkansas    Plateau,    brief    account 

of,  109-110. 
Asbestos,  349-350. 
Astronomical     boundaries,     400- 

4". 
Atlantic  coastal  plain,  62-64. 
Forest,  brief  account  of,  227. 
Mountains,  60,  73-89. 
Austral    climatic    provinces,     191- 

197. 
Aves,  orders  of,  289. 
Aztecs,  advancement  of,  364. 

Badlands,   brief   account    of,    110- 

iii. 
Bahama    Islands,    topography    of, 

19. 
Baker,  Mt.,  Wash.,  height  of,  156. 
Bald,  Mt.,  N.  B.,  height  of,  85. 
Bancroft,    George,    reference    to, 

395- 
Barren  grounds,  absence  of  trees 

on,  253. 
Bartlett  Deep,  20. 
Basement  complex,  310. 
Bay  of  Fundy,  tides  in,  29. 
Bear,   Polar,  266. 
Bears,  brief  account  of,  279,  282- 

284. 
Bell,  R.,  exploration  by,  88. 
Bermuda,  area  and  population  of, 

424. 
"  Bei  muda  Mountain,"  4. 
Bering  Sea,  depth  of,  2. 
Bighorn,  brief  account  of.  272-273. 
427 


428 


NORTH   AMERICA 


Big  trees  of  California,  242-246. 

Bird  migrations,  292-296. 

Birds,  brief  account  of,  289-298. 

Bison,  brief  account  of,  275-278. 
Map  showing  range  of,  276. 

Blackfoot  Indians,  lodge  of,  387. 

Black  Hills  of  Dakota,  116-119. 

Boreal  climatic  province,  201-203. 
Forest,  235-237. 

Boston,  Mt..  Mo.,  height  of,  92. 

Boundaries,  classification  of,  408- 
418. 

British  Honduras,  area  and  popu- 
lation of,  424. 

Brownson   Deep,   20. 

Buffalo,  brief  account  of,  275-277. 


Cacti,  225-226. 
California,  boundary  of,  416. 
Cambrian  system,  310-312. 
Canada,    area    and   population    of, 
424. 
Boundary  of,  417,  418. 
Mountains  of  Western,  167-169. 
Treatment  of   Indians  by,  397- 
399- 
Canadian  Coast  Ranges,  168. 

Rockies,  167-169. 
Cape  Cod,  map  of,  37. 
Hatteras,  continental  shelf  bor- 
dering, 2. 
Lisburne,  depth  of  water  near,  2. 
Sheridan,  tides  at,  30. 
Capulin,    Mt,    N.    M.,   height   of, 

119. 
Carborundum,  351. 
Caribbean   region,   submarine   to- 
pography of,  16-23. 
Caribou,  brief  account  of,  266-269. 
Cascade  Mountains,  brief  account 
of,  14/-158. 
Igneous  rocks  of,  316-322. 
Castor  canadensis,  279. 
Catlinite,  379,  380. 
Cats,   brief  account  of,  284-285. 
Cedar  trees  in  Pacific  forest,  240. 


Census  of  various  nations,  424. 

Of  aborigines,  406. 
Central  America,  Indians  of,  403- 

405- 
Chamberlin,  T.  C,  cited,  316. 
Characccc,  lime  secreted  by,  335. 
Chart  of  geological  history,  309. 
Chelan,  Lake,  Wash.,  157-158. 
Chesapeake  Bay,  origin  of,  42. 
Chickasaw  plum,  385. 
Chinook  winds,  115,  204-205. 
Classification   of  boundaries,   408- 
418. 
Geological  terranes,  308-309. 
Clays,  345. 
Climate,  173-214. 

Elements  of,  173-184. 
Climatic  provinces,  184-203. 
Coal,  336-338. 

Fields,  map  of,  337. 
Coastal  plains,  62-69. 
Coast  boundaries,  409. 
Mountains,   162-169. 
Topography  of,  31-55- 
Columbia   River  lava,  310-320. 
Commercial  geology,  328-353. 
Communal    dwellings   of   Indians, 

388-389. 
Concentration     of     mineral     sub- 
stances, 328-353. 
Consequent  drainage,  examples  of, 

118. 
Contact  of  aborigines  with  foreign 

people,  396-406. 
Continental  borer,  description  of, 
89-120. 
Shelf,  1-16. 
Cope,  E.  D.,  cited,  260,  311,  312. 
Coral  growths  on  continental  shelf, 
6. 
Reefs  in  the  West  Indies,  18. 
Corundum,  351. 
Costa   Rica,   area  and  population 

of,  424. 
Crater  Lake,   Ore.,  brief  account 
of,   153-155- 
Map  of,  155. 


INDEX 


429 


Cross,  W.,  cited,  321. 

Cuba,  area  and  population  of,  424. 

Banks  near,  20. 
Culture  of  the  aborigines,  363-365. 
Currents,  ocean,  23-27. 
Cyclones,  208-212. 
Cypresses,  233. 

Dall,  W.  H.,  cited,  367,  373,  374- 
Dana,  J.  D.,  cited,  300. 
Davis,  W.  M.,  cited,  79. 
Dawson,  J.  W.,  cited,  312. 
Death  Valley,  Cal,   145. 
Debris  forming  continental  shelf, 

5-8. 

"Deeps"  of  the  West  Indies,  20- 

21. 
Deer,  brief  account  of,  271—272. 
Delaware,  boundary  of,  416. 

Bay,  origin  of,  42. 

River,  submerged  channel  of,  43. 
Deltas,  5^-55- 

Denmark,  possessions  of,  424. 
Dikes,  320. 

Diller,  J.  S.,  cited,  152,  153,  164. 
Dismal  Swamp,  brief  account  of, 

63-64. 
Divide  boundaries,  414-415. 
Dog,   Eskimo,   266. 
Drowned  river  valleys,  43,  48,  49. 
Dutton,  C.  E.,  cited,  134,  136,  153. 

Economic  geology.  328-352. 
Edwards   Plateau,   Tex.,   brief  ac- 
count of,  107-108. 
El  Llano  Estacado,  brief  account 

of,  106-109. 
Enhydra  marina,  278. 
Eschscholtz  Bay,  Alaska,  ice  near, 

68. 
Eskimo,  meaning  of  the  word,  35°v/ 
Dog,  266 

Meaning  rm,  356. 

Eskimos,    brief    account    of,    365- 
376. 
Census  of,  406. 


Estuaries,  55-58. 
Ethnological  studies,  394-396. 
Evaporation,  212—213. 


Fall  line  in  Atlantic  coast  rivers, 
66. 

Ferns,  222. 

Fir  trees  in  Pacific  forest,  240. 

Flora,  215-257. 

Florida,  continental  shelf  border- 
ing, 2. 

Fontaine,  W.  M.,  cited,  312. 

Food  supply  of  Indians,  381-387. 

Forests,  description  of,  217-249. 
Map  of,  216. 

Fossil  floras,  256. 

France,  possessions  of,  419,  424. 

Fur-bearing  animals,  278—282. 


Galveston,    Tex.,    destruction    of, 
38. 

Tides  at,  27. 
Gardens  of  the  Indians,  384-387. 
Gas,  natural,  340. 
Gaspe  Peninsula,  84. 
Geographical   distribution   of  ani- 
mals, 258-263. 
Geology,  299-354. 
Gilbert,  G.  K.,  cited,  118,  131,  321. 
Glacial    epoch,    brief    account    of, 
3i4-3i6. 

Extent  of  glaciers  during,  7-8. 
Glacier    Peak,    Wash.,    height    of, 

156. 
Glass  sand,  333. 
GJottoff,  reference  to,  374. 
Gold,  345-346,  351-353. 

Mountains,   Canada,   168. 
Governor's    palace,    Uxmal,    393, 

394- 

Grand    Canon    of    the    Colorado, 

134-135- 
Sketch  of.  [35. 
Gray,  A.,  cited,  389. 
Great  Abaco,  reference  to,  18. 


430 


NORTH   AMERICA 


Great  Bahama  Bank,  brief  account 
of,  18. 
Basin,  brief  account  of,  136-146. 
Basin,  map  of,  138. 
Lakes,  99. 

Plains,  brief  account  of,  102-106. 
Plateaus,  brief  account  of,  102- 

106. 
Salt  Lake,  Utah,  140-142. 
Valley  of  California,   158-161. 
"Greater  St.  Lawrence,"  9. 
Growth  of  the  continent,  300-306. 
Guatemala,  area  and  population  of, 

424. 
Gulf  of  California,  49. 
of  Mexico,  continental  shelf  on 

border  of,  1-2. 
of   Mexico,   map  of  west  coast 

of,  39- 
Plains,  brief  account  of,  94-95- 
Stream,  16. 
Stream,  volume,  etc.,  of,  24-25. 


Haida  Indians,  397. 

Haiti,  area  and  population  of,  424. 

Harbours,  53-58. 

Harney  Peak,  S.  D.,  elevation  of, 

116. 
Hawaiian  Islands,  4. 
Hawaii,    area   and    population    of, 

424. 
Hayden,  F.  V.,  cited,  113. 
Hayes,  C.  W.,  cited,  79. 
Heilprin,  A.,  cited,  260. 
Henry  Mountains,  Utah,  131,  321. 
Henshaw,  W.  H.,  cited,  395. 
Hetch  Hetchy  Valley,  Cal.,  150. 
High    plateaus,    brief   account   of, 

I32-I34- 
Hill,  R.  T.,  cited,  22,  169,  220,  422. 

Map  by,  17. 
Holland,  possessions  of,  424. 
Holmes,   W.    H.,   cited,  391,    392, 

393.  394- 
Honduras,  area  and- population  of, 

424. 


Hood,  Mt.,  Ore.,  height  of,  156. 
Hornaday,  W.  T.,  cited,  277. 
Horticulture  by  Indians,  384-387. 
Houses  of  Indians,  387-394. 

Innuits,  368-369. 
Hudson  River,  submerged  channel 

of,  8-9,  43. 
Humboldt,  A.  von,  cited,  12. 
Huxley,  T.  H.,  cited,  259. 
Hydrocarbons,  338-342. 

Ice,  changes  in  coasts  due  to,  50— 
5i. 
Sub-soil,  in  Alaska,  68. 
Deposited  debris  on  continental 

shelf,  6-7. 
Palace,  Montreal,  199. 
Igneous   rocks,    brief   account    of, 
316-326. 
Terranes,   economic  importance 
of,  331-332- 
Impracticable  boundaries,  417-418. 
Indians,  account  of,  376-466. 
Census  of,  406. 

Treatment  of,  by  United  States 
and  Canada,  397-403. 
Innuit,  meaning  of  the  term,  356. 
Innuits,  brief  account  of,  366-372. 
Intrusive  sheets,  320-321. 
Iron  Mountain,  Mo.,  92. 
Iron  ores,  342-344. 
Iroquois,  houses  of,  387-388. 
Irrigation    practised    by    Indians, 

386. 
Irving,  W.,  reference  to,  395. 
Islands,  30-31. 
Isobars,    173. 
Isotherms,   173. 

Jackson,  S.,  reference  to,  269. 

Jamaica,  terraces  on,  22. 

James      River,      Va.,      submerged 

channel  of,  42. 
Japan  current,  reference  to,  25. 
Jeff  Davis  Peak,   New,  height  of, 
146. 


INDEX 


43i 


Jefferson,  Mt.,  Ore.,  height  of,  156. 
Johnson,  W.  D.,  cited,  109. 
Judas  tree,  233. 


Kamlayka,  370. 

Kara  Sea,  life  in,  14. 

Katahdin,    Alt.,     Ale.,    height    of, 

85. 
Kayaks,  370-37 1. 
Kittatinny  pene-plain,  80. 
Knowlton,  F.   H.,  cited,  312. 
Kowak    River,    Alaska,    ice    near, 

68. 


Labrador,  boundary  of,  418. 
Topography  of,  71—72. 

Laccoliths,  131,  321. 

Lake  plains,  brief  account  of,  99- 
101. 

Lakes,  enclosed,  141. 

Languages,  359-36o. 

Language  spoken  in  America,  421. 

Laurentian    Highlands,    brief    ac- 
count of,  87-88. 
Lakes,  09. 

Leidy,  J.,  cited,  313-314. 

Lesquereux,  L.,  cited,  312. 

Life  on  the  continental  shelf,  10— 
16. 
Realms,  250-260. 
Regions  and  life-zones,  260-262. 

Limestones,   334-335. 

Little  Bahama  Bank,  brief  account 
of,  18. 

Llano  Estacado,  EI,  106-109. 

Lodge  "•'  Blackfoot  Indians,  387. 

I       in,  Mt.,  Yukon,  height  of.  166. 

Longhouse  of  [roquois,  387—388. 

Lookout  Mountain,  Tenn.,  se< 
through,  78. 

Lost  mountains,  1 13. 

Lower    \.u  tral  climatic  province, 
191-194. 


Luigi,    Prince,   ascent   of   Mt.    St. 

Elias,   166. 
Lxitra  canadensis,  278. 


Mackenzie  River,  delta  of,  S2. 
McKinley,  Mt.,  Alaska,  height  of, 

166. 
Magnolia,  230. 
Maine,  map  of  coast  of,  45. 
Mammalian    families    peculiar    to 

America,  287-288. 
Mammals,    classification    of,    262- 

264. 
Mansfield,  Mt.,  N.  H.,  height  of, 

83. 
Marcy,  Mt,  N.  Y.,  height  of,  84. 
Marl,  335- 

Marsh,  O.  C,  cited,  312,  313,  314. 
Massachusetts,  boundary  of,  418. 
Mauvaises  terres,  no. 
Maya  houses,  392. 
Mayas,  culture  of,  364. 
Mazama,  Mt,  Ore.,  I53-I55- 

Height  of,  156. 
Mazama,  273-275. 
Mazamas,  the,  273. 
Mephities  mephitica,  280. 
Merriam,    C.    H.,   cited,    185,   259, 

260. 
Merrimac    River,   boundary   near, 

418. 
Metamorphic  rocks,  323—324. 
Terranes,    economic   importance 

of,  347-353- 
Metamorphism,  nature  of,  32.}. 
Mexico,    area    and    population    of, 

424. 
Bi  iundary  of,  418. 
Indians  of,  403. 
Mica,  350. 
Micquelon,    retained    by    France, 

419. 

' ation  of  birds,  292-2  196 
M  issis  ippi  I  >elta,  map  of,  54. 
River,  delta  of,  53-55. 

Mobil' 


432 


NORTH    AMERICA 


Monadnock,  definition  of,  70. 
Moose,  brief  account  of,  269-270. 
Morgan,  L.   H.,  cited,  388,  395. 
Mountain  boundaries,  413—414. 

Sheep,    brief    account    of,    272- 
273- 

Goat,  273-275. 
Muir,  John,  cited,  151,  244. 
Musk-ox,  265-266. 


Navidad  Bank,  reference  to,  18. 
Neogseic  life  realm,  259. 
Neolithic,  364. 
Newark  system,  320. 
Newberry,  J.  S.,  cited,  312. 
New  Brunswick,  mountains  of,  84. 
Newcastle,  Del.,  boundary  in  ref- 
erence to,  416. 
New   England,  mountains  of,  82— 

83. 
Newfoundland,   area  and    popula- 
tion of,  424. 

Continental  shelf  bordering,  2. 

French  rights  in,  419. 

Jurisdiction  over  Labrador,  417. 
New     Hampshire,     boundary     of, 

418. 
New  Jersey,  boundary  of,  411—412. 

Subsidence  of  coast  of,  63. 
New  York,  boundary  of,  41 1— 412. 

Mountains  of,  83. 
Nicaragua,  area  and  population  of, 

424. 
Nordenskiold  cited,  15. 
Notogseic  life  realm,  259. 
Notre  Dame  Mountains,  84. 


Olympic  Mountains,  Wash.,  165. 

Onyx  marble,  335. 

Oomiak,  370. 

Ores,  deposition  of,  345. 

Origin  of  the  aborigines,  356-357. 

Otter,  278. 

Ouachita  Mountains,  93. 

Ozark  Uplift,  description  of,  91-94. 


Pacific  forest,  238-249. 
Mountains,  60,  120— 136. 

Paleolithic,  364. 

Palms,  220-224. 

Panama,  area  and  population  of, 
424. 

Park  Mountains,  127-130. 

Parkies,  370. 

Pene-plain,  definition  of,  69-70. 

Pennsylvania,  boundary  of,  416. 

Perry,  W.  A.,  cited,  270. 

Petroleum,  338—340. 

Physiographic   divisions,   map   of, 
61. 

Piedmont  plateau,  64,  69-70. 

Pines,  232-233,  247-249. 

Pitt,  Mt.,  Ore.,  height  of,  156. 

Planetary  winds,  178-179. 

Plant  life,  215-257. 

Plateaus,  treeless,  252-253. 

Platinum,  352. 

Playas,  characteristics  of,  253. 
Examples  of,  141. 
Description  of,  121. 

Plutonic  plug,  321. 

Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  life  in  the 
sea  near,  14. 
Tides  at,  30. 

Polar  bear,  266. 

Political  control,  419-424. 
Geography,  408-426. 

Population     of     North     America, 
424. 

Porto   Rico,  area  and  population 
of,  4^4- 

Possessions    held    by     European 
governments,  424. 

Potomac  River,  submerged  chan- 
nel of,  43. 

Pourtales,  L.  F.,  work  of  in  Carib- 
bean region,  16. 

Powell,  J.  W.,  cited,  90,   104,  124, 
127,  251,  357,  359. 

Prairies,    brief    account    of,    250, 
253- 

Prairie    plains,    brief   account    of, 
95-99- 


INDEX 


433 


Prescott,  W.  H.,  reference  to,  395. 

Pteranodon,  313. 

Pueblo  Indians,  390. 

Pueblos,  388. 

Puget  Sound  basin,  158-161. 

Origin  of,  47. 

Map  of,  161. 
Pyramid  Lake,  Nev.,  140. 


Rainier,    Mt.,  Wash.,  photograph 
of,  156. 
Height  of,  156. 
Raton  Mesa,  N.  M.,  120. 
Redwood    forests    of    California, 

242—246. 
Reindeer  in  Alaska,  269. 
Reptiles  of  the  Mesozoic,  313. 
Republics,  American,  420. 
Resources  used  by  Indians,  379- 

387. 
River  deltas,  52-55. 
Rocky    Mountains,    brief   account 
of,  122-136. 
Of  Canada,  124. 
Rogers,  H.  D.,  cited,  312. 
Russian  American  Company,  375. 
Houses,  369. 


St.  Elias,  Mt.,  Alaska,  height  of, 
166. 
Elevation  of  coast  near,  46. 
Not  a  volcano,   167. 
St.      Francois      Mountains,      Mo., 

height  of,  92. 
St.  Helena,  Mt.,  Wash.,  height  of, 

156. 
St.  John,  N.  B.,  tides  at,  30. 
St.  Lawrence  estuary,  55-56. 

River,  submerged  channel  of,  9. 
St.     Pierre,    retained    by    France, 

419. 
Salt,  341-342. 
Salvador,  area  and  population  of, 

424. 
San  Clementc  Island,  Cal.,   10. 


San   Domingo,   area  and  popula- 
tion of,  424. 

San  Francisco  Bay,  Cal.,  origin  of, 
49- 

San  Juan  Islands,  Wash.,  413. 

San  Louis  Park,  Col.,  128. 

Sand-hills,    112-113. 

Sandstone,  332-333- 

Santa  Catalina  Island,  Cal.,  10. 

Santa  Cruz  Island,  Cal.,  10. 

Santa  Domingo,  area  and  popula- 
tion of,  424. 

Santa  Rosa  Island,  Cal.,  10. 

Sargent,  C.  S.,  cited,  249. 

Schaffner,   D.   C,   maps  compiled 
by,  301. 

Schooley  pene-plain,  80-81. 

Schools  for  Indians,  401-402. 

Sclater,  P.  L.,  cited,  259. 

Scott,  Mt.,  Ore.,  height  of,  156. 

Seasons,  179-182. 

Section    through    Black    Hills   of 
Dakota,  117. 
Lookout  Mountain,  Tenn.,  78. 

Sedimentary  rocks,   brief  account 
of,  306-316. 
Terranes,   economic   importance 
of,  33I-346- 

Sequoia  gigautca,  242,  244-246. 
Sempcrvirens,  242-244. 

Shenandoah  pene-plain,  Si. 

Sierra  Blanca,  N.  M.,  129. 

Sicrran  epoch,  mention  of,  315. 

Sierra    Nevada    Mountains,    Cal., 
brief  account  of,  147-158. 

Sigsbee  Deep,  20. 

Silver,  346. 
Pine,  248. 

Six  Nations  of  New  York,  405. 

Skunk,  brief  account  of,  280-282. 

Solovieff,   I.   M.,  reference  to,  374. 

Spain,  former  possessions  of,  419. 

Sphagnum,  67. 

Spring-time  music,  296-298. 

Stony  Mountains,  124-127. 

Stream  deposits,  changes  in  coast 
lines  due  to,  51-55. 


434 


NORTH   AMERICA 


Subarctic  forest  plains,  101-102. 
Submerged  river  channels,  8-10. 
Subsequent  drainage,  example  of, 

118. 
Subsidences  of  coasts,  62-63. 
Subtuberant  mountains,  322. 
Sugar  pine,  247. 
Superimposed   drainage,   example 

of,  118. 
Susquehanna     River,     submerged 

channel   of,  43. 
Sutton,  Mt,  N.  B.,  height  of,  84. 
Synclinal  mountains,  78. 

Tahoe  Lake,  Cal. — Nev.,  140. 

Talc,  350. 

Tarr,  R.  S.,  map  of  co-tidal  lines 

by,  28. 
Tepee  of  Indians,  387,  388. 
Terraces  on  islands  of  California 
coast,  10. 

Sea,  33-34- 
Thomas,  C,  cited,  395. 
Thunder  storms,  206-207. 
Tides,  27-30. 

in   rivers,  44. 
Timber  line,  254. 
Tlingit  Indians,  397. 
Topography  of  coasts,  31-55. 
Tornadoes,  207. 
Transition  climatic  province,  197— 

201. 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  reference  to,  418. 
Treeless  mountain  tops,  254-257. 

Plains,    brief    account    of,    250- 

253- 
Tropical    climatic    province,    186- 

191. 
Forests,  219-227. 
Tundra,  brief  account  of,  67-68. 
Turner,  H.  W.,  cited,  148. 
Tyrrell,  J.  B.,  cited,  66,  268. 

Union,  Mt.,  Ore.,  height  of,  156. 
United  Kingdom,  possessions  of, 
424. 


United  States,  area  and  population 
of,  424. 
Boundaries  of,  417-418. 
Treatment   of   Indians  by,  399- 

403. 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  ref- 
erence to  work  of,  16. 
Fish   Commission,   reference   to 
work  of,  16. 
Upper  Austral  climatic  province, 

194-197- 
Uxmal,    Yucatan,    panorama     of, 
391- 

Vancouver,   B.    C,  firs  of,  241. 

Mountains,  B.  C,  165. 
Van  Hise,  C.  R.,  cited,  310. 
"Vega,"  voyage  of,  15. 
Veniaminoff,  reference  to,  375. 
Virginia  creeper,  234. 
Volcanic  mountains,   120-121. 
Volcanoes,  317-318.       n       « 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  cited,  30,  259. 
Wapati,  brief  account  of,  270-271. 
Ward,  L.  F.,  cited,  312. 
Washington,   Mt,    N.    H.,    height 

of,  83. 
Water  boundaries,  411-413. 

Mineral,  353. 
West  Indian  hurricanes,  210. 
West    Indies,    Danish,    area    and 

population  of,  424. 
French,  area  and  population  of, 

424. 
Indians  of,  404. 
Political  division  of,  422-423. 
Whirlwinds,  203. 
White,  D.,  cited,  312. 
White,  I.  C,  cited,  312. 
White,  Mt.,  Nev.,  height  of,  146. 
White  Mountains,   N.   H.,   forests 

of,  86. 
Whiteface,  Mt.,  N.  Y.,  height  of,  84. 
Whitney,  J.  D.,  cited,  251. 
Whitney,  Mt.,  Cal.,  height  of,  149. 
Willis,  Bailey,  cited,  79. 


INDEX 


435 


Winds,  planetary,   178-179. 
Winnemucca  Lake,  Nev.,  140. 
Wolves,  brief  account  of,  285-287. 

Yellow  pine,  248. 
Yosemite  Valley,  Cal.,   150. 


Yucatan,  continental  shelf  border- 
ing, 2. 
Topography  of,  19. 
Yukon  River,  delta  uf,  52. 

Zuhi,  389. 


THE   END 


I   17 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
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